Issues that may come up for discussion during Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Delhi

June 22, 2024 2:43 am

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is leaving for Delhi on a two-day state visit on Friday. Terming the visit as ‘very important’, the notification issued by the Prime Minister’s office in Dhaka has mentioned the exchange of memorandums of understanding and agreements between the two countries during the visit.

However, no detailed information has been given that any memorandum of understanding and agreement may be signed between the two countries during this visit.

Again, it is customary to brief the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before such a visit, but this time it has not yet been done.

According to the information received from the officials, the foreign minister and the secretary are not in Dhaka. And in their absence, they were not instructed to tell anyone else about this visit.

Rather, the activities of the visit are being supervised from the Prime Minister’s office and information about the visit was given through a notification from there on Wednesday.

According to the notification, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will stay in Delhi on Friday and Saturday on a state visit at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Former Foreign Secretary Tauhid Hossain told BBC Bangla that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is making her first foreign visit to India after the formation of the government. This is the significant aspect of this visit in terms of diplomacy and politics.

Zobaida Nasreen, a political analyst and professor at Dhaka University, says that Sheikh Hasina’s visit will be an expression of mutual trust and confidence between the governments of both countries.

Ruling Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport Minister Obaidul Quader, however, said that they want to maintain good relations with India so that all problems can be resolved through discussion.

Incidentally, the Awami League under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came to power for the fourth time in a row through the elections held in Bangladesh on January 7 this year with the exclusion of opposition parties.

On the other hand, after the general elections in India, Narendra Modi took oath as the Prime Minister for the third time in a row on June 10. Mr. Modi’s swearing-in ceremony was attended by Sheikh Hasina and several other heads of state.

Before the elections in Bangladesh, the Western countries led by the United States ‘created pressure on the Awami League government’ but the opposition parties complained that the Awami League was able to come back to power with the support of India without an opposition party.