Foreign Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain says at media briefing

TDS Desk:

Chief Adviser Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi may hold their first bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the upcoming BIMSTEC Summit in Thailand, likely to take place in November.

“The bilateral meeting is expected to be held during the BIMSTEC summit, which is tentatively scheduled for next month,” said Foreign Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain at a media briefing at the foreign ministry here Wednesday afternoon.

The Chief Adviser is scheduled to attend the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit, initially planned for September 4, but the event was postponed.

Thailand is set to host the next summit while Bangladesh will take responsibility as the next chair of BIMSTEC there.

Dispelling speculation, no meeting between the heads of government of Bangladesh and India took place during the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York due to schedule conflicts of the two leaders.

When asked about the outcome of his meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar on the sidelines of the UNGA, Hossain said both sides reaffirmed the importance of maintaining strong relations between the two neighbouring countries.

“We agreed that establishing good relations between our two countries is crucial for the betterment of the two people,” he observed.

The foreign adviser mentioned that the two sides discussed normalizing the visa process for Bangladeshi citizens traveling to India.

“He (Jaishankar) expressed the hope that the visa system would be restored soon,” Hossain added.

Additionally, he said, they reviewed Bangladesh’s internal security situation.

“I assured him that the security situation has significantly improved, and no foreign country has raised concerns in recent times,” Hossain noted.

Relations between Dhaka and New Delhi have been strained since the fall of the previous Awami League government while ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took shelter in India after fleeing the country.