India rolls out red carpet to welcome Bangladesh premier

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: India today rolled out the red carpet to welcome Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as she arrived here on a four-day state visit at the invitation of her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

“A VVIP chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the prime minister and her entourage members landed in the Palam Airport, New Delhi at 11:40am local time today,” Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim told BSS.

The Bangladesh premier was received by State Minister for Railways and Textiles of India Darshana Vikram Jardosh and Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Muhammad Imran.

After the red carpet was rolled out at the airport in honour of Sheikh Hasina, a cultural team comprising 6-7 members performed a welcome dance with playing musical instruments.

Earlier, the flight carrying her departed from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka at 10.17am today.

During the visit, Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to have bilateral talk and a one-to-one meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Hyderabad House on September 6, the second day of her India visit.

She will be formally received by her Indian counterpart while a ceremonial guard of honour will be accorded to her there.

After holding the bilateral talks, several MoUs (Memorandum of Understandings) are likely to be signed between the two neighbouring countries while a press statement will be issued later.

Sheikh Hasina later will join a luncheon hosted in her honour by the Indian premier.

She is scheduled to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat on the first day of her visit.

On September 6, Sheikh Hasina is expected to have separate courtesy calls on Indian President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.

She is scheduled to have a call on family members of former Indian president Pranab Mukherjee the same day.

Indian external affairs minister will pay a call on the Bangladesh premier today while Minister for Development of North Eastern Region of India G. Kishan Reddy and Nobel laureate Kailash Shatyarthi will make separate calls on her on September 7.

Adani Group Chariman, Gautam Adani will also pay a courtesy call on Sheikh Hasina slated for today.

On September 7, the Bangladesh premier is expected to address a meeting with top business leaders and a ceremony for awarding “Mujib Scholarship” to direct descendants of soldiers, officers of the defence forces of India, who were martyred or critically wounded during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.

The prime minister is scheduled to visit Khwaja Gharib Nawaz Dargah Sharif, Ajmer (Ajmer Sharif Dargah) in Rajasthan before returning to Dhaka on September 8 and Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah in Delhi on her first day of India visit today.

Sheikh Hasina is visiting India after three years since she last visited in 2019 before the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.

The prime minister leads a high-level delegation which includes several ministers, advisers, state ministers, secretaries and senior officials.

The visit is seen as significant amid the Ukraine crisis, global economic downturn and ongoing Covid-19 pandemic as the two South Asian neighbours seek enhanced cooperation to overcome the challenges.

Issues related to security cooperation, investment, enhanced trade relations, power and energy sector cooperation, water sharing of common rivers, water resources management, border management, combating drug smuggling and human trafficking will get priority during the talks between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the Hyderabad House. (BSS)