Bangladesh FM holds meeting with India’s national security adviser

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Bangladesh foreign minister Hasan Mahmud on Wednesday had a meeting with India’s national security adviser Ajit Doval.

The meeting began at 12:30pm and lasted till 1:15pm.

“I had an excellent meeting with the national security adviser of India, Ajit Doval. We discussed a number of security issues, including the Rohingya issue. It was really an excellent meeting,” said the foreign minister.

Foreign minister Hasan Mahmud and his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar are scheduled to hold a meeting later on the day.

Hasan landed in New Delhi a little before 1:00am on a three-day official visit from Wednesday.

Md Mustafizur Rahman, Bangladesh high commissioner to India, and Smita Pant, ambassador designate of India to Uzbekistan received the foreign minister at the airport in New Delhi.

India has said that Bangladesh foreign minister Hasan’s first bilateral visit to New Delhi reflected the high importance and priority both countries attach to their relationship.

During the visit, Indian external affairs minister S Jaishankar and foreign minister Hasan will hold talks, in which both leaders will review the progress in wide-ranging areas of bilateral relations and chart out the agenda for future engagement.

They will also exchange views on sub-regional, regional and multilateral issues of common interest.

This is Hasan’s first bilateral visit abroad as Foreign Minister.

The foreign minister is likely to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and have a separate meeting with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal during his stay in New Delhi.

The foreign minister will also pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at the iconic Rajghat.

Earlier, spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Seheli Sabrin, said that issues of mutual interest including trade, connectivity and energy cooperation, people-to-people contacts and regional cooperation would be discussed between the two sides at the bilateral meeting to further strengthen Bangladesh-India relations.

Asked whether the Teesta water-sharing issue will be discussed in the meeting, the foreign ministry spokesperson said they expect the issue would be discussed. (UNB)