Hasina-Modi ‘goodwill exchange’ likely during her stopover in Delhi June 8
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has planned to make a 12-hour stopover in New Delhi on June 8 on her way back home after wrapping up her tri-nation visit to Japan, Saudi Arabia and Finland.
There is likely to have a "goodwill exchange" between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi during her brief stay in New Delhi, a diplomatic source says, suggesting that all need to wait further to see things get mature first.
The Prime Minister leaves here for Tokyo on Tuesday from where she will go to Saudi Arabia.
On June 3, she will depart Jeddah for Helsinki, Finland via Frankfurt and will reach at Helsinki at 1pm (local time).
Sheikh Hasina will meet the President of Finland at his official residence on June 4.
On June 7, she will leave Helsinki at 6:35pm (local time) for Dhaka by Finair.
On her way back home, the Prime Minister will make a stopover in New Delhi.
She will land at Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport at 6:05am (local time) on June 8, according to her tour schedule.
Hasina will leave Delhi for Dhaka on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight at 6:20pm (local time) and arrive here at 9:20pm (local time).
Foreign Minister Dr Momen said the Prime Minister will celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr abroad as she will return home on June 8.
Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq will represent Bangladesh at the swearing-in ceremony of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi will take oath as Indian Prime Minister for the second term on May 30 at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The Foreign Minister said Mozammel will join the ceremony as the senior most cabinet member of the Bangladesh government.
Sheikh Hasina will be in Japan during the swearing-in ceremony as was during previous ceremony.
Last time, Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury attended Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi pledged to continue to raise the relationship between the two countries to an “unprecedented new height.”
They underscored the importance of rapidly completing ongoing plans for deepening the partnership in security trade, transportation, energy and people-to-people ties.
Doing so within the next three years will have specific significance in view of the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 2020 and the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s Liberation in 2021, according to a media release issued by the Indian Prime Minister’s Office.
The leaders also agreed to identify dates for a meeting at the earliest to resume work in service of the bilateral relationship.
Hasina became one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate the Indian Prime Minister, thus reflecting the “extraordinarily close and cordial ties” between India and Bangladesh, and the excellent rapport that the two leaders enjoy, the release added.
She spoke to Modi on Thursday to extend her congratulations on the clear mandate given by the people of India to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On the other hand, Indian and Maldivian media on Sunday reported that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit the Maldives in his first bilateral tour.
But it could not be confirmed yet whether it will be Bangladesh or the Maldives which Modi will visit first.
Bhutan was the first country Modi had visited in 2014 after becoming Indian Prime Minister.
Quoting diplomatic sources, Indian media said Modi is expected to travel to Male in the first half of June, while the Maldivian media reported that the visit will take place on June 7-8.
