Bangladesh foreign secretary more likely to visit Delhi shortly
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen will probably get to New Delhi in middle of September, per month after his Indian counterpart's sudden two-day Dhaka tour, reports BSS, quoting diplomatic sources in Dhaka and New Delhi on Sunday.
"It will be a return visit (as) Indian foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla during his August 18-19 Dhaka tour invited his counterpart to go to India at his earliest convenience," a senior official at Bangladesh high commission in New Delhi told BSS, preferring anonymity.
He, however, said the date of Bin Momen's expected visit was yet to be finalized however the high commission assumed it to occur by middle of September.
A foreign ministry official in Dhaka substantiated the high commission source in Delhi saying that the preparations were underway for Bin Momen's India tour.
"The date (of the visit) is yet to be finalized, but the tour is expected before long," said the state, wishing to be unnamed aswell.
The officials said aside from reviewing bilateral issues of interests and concerns and follow-up Shringla's tour, Bin Momen's visit was also likely to prepare grounds for the 6th foreign ministers level joint consultative committee (JCC) meeting this year.
During Shringla's Dhaka visit, it had been decided that the 6th JCC talks could possibly be held through virtual media because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The 5th JCC meeting happened in New Delhi in February this past year when Bangladesh Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen and his the then Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj led their respective sides.
The high commission official in Delhi said ahead of Bin Momen's visit, the two countries could operationalise Dhaka-New Delhi flights under an "air bubble travel arrangement".
Asked the way the system could be launched, the state said a "note verbal", rather than a formal agreement could suffice to create operational the makeshift arrangement for the pandemic period.
Shringla proposed the arrangement during his visit while Dhaka accepted the proposition though its modus operandi is yet to be finalized to use limited flights exclusively between the two countries for officials, business people and medical travelers.
Outgoing Indian high commissioner Riva Ganguly earlier this week positioned a proposal to Bangladesh’s civil aviation ministry for initiating the air bubble to launch exclusive flight operations, allowing no transit passenger to visit in those flights coming from a third country.
India said it by now introduced such air bubble with France, Germany, UAE and the Maldives.
During his ending up in Ganguly, state minister for civil aviation and tourism M Mahbub Ali suggested that the civil aviation authorities of the two countries to create modalities for the air bubble mechanism so both neighbours and their people could get the utmost benefit of the system.
