New Delhi will roll out the red carpet at the Palam Airport today, Monday, to welcome Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after a long interval of three years since she last visited India in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.
Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen on Sunday said at a media briefing that at least seven agreements and MoUs related to water management, railway, science and technology; and information and broadcasting would be signed during the four-day “state visit”.
The visit will further strengthen the “multifaceted relationship” between the two countries based on “strong historical and cultural ties and mutual trust and understanding”, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said.
Bangladesh, India relations began in 1971 when New Delhi stood by Dhaka against the Pakistani atrocities. There have been ups and downs in the relations after 1975 when the founding father of Bangladesh Bangandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed.
But in the last 12 years, there had been consistent progress in the relations which is now termed as the ‘sonali oddhaya’ or golden chapter.
Dhaka expects that the visit, at the invitation of the prime minister’s counterpart Narendra Modi, will open new "windows of cooperation" between the two countries.
“We hope the visit will be very successful. It will help achieve our goals,” the foreign minister said.
Issues related to security cooperation, trade and investment, power and energy sector cooperation, water sharing of common rivers, water resources management, border management, combating drug smuggling, human trafficking and Rohingya issue will get priority at the summit level meeting between the two leaders.
“A VVIP chartered flight of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the Prime Minister and her entourage members will depart the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka at 10am tomorrow,” PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim told state-run news agency BSS.
The flight is scheduled to arrive in the Palam Airport, New Delhi at 12pm (BD time) where the Bangladesh premier will be received by State Minister for Railways and Textiles of India Darshana Vikram and Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Muhammad Imran.
A red carpet will be rolled out at the airport in honour of the prime minister while a cultural team comprising 6-7 members will later perform a welcome dance and play musical instruments.
The prime minister will pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat.
Apart from bilateral talks with Modi, the Prime Minister will hold talks with the Indian President, and Vice President.
The bilateral talk and a one-to-one meeting with Indian Prime Minister Modi will be held on September 6, the second day of her India visit, at the Hyderabad House.
After holding the bilateral talks, the agreements and MoUs would be signed.
On her arrival at the Hyderabad House, the prime minister will be received by Narendra Modi. She will inspect the ceremonial guard of honour there.
Sheikh Hasina later will join a luncheon to be hosted in her honour by the Indian Prime Minister.
She is scheduled to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat on September 5.
On September 6, Sheikh Hasina is expected to make separate courtesy calls on Indian President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.
She is scheduled to meet family members of former Indian president Pranab Mukherjee the same day.
Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will pay a call on the Prime Minister on September 5 while Minister for Development of North Eastern Region of India G. Kishan Reddy and Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi will make separate calls on her on September 7.
Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani will also pay a courtesy call on the Prime Minister on September 5.
On September 7, the Prime Minister will address a business gathering 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 also 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 on September 5.
Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, Railways Minister Md. Nurul Islam Sujan, PM’s economic affairs adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman, PM’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid and State Minister for Water Resources Zaheed Farooque are among the delegation members of the prime minister.
She will return to Dhaka on September 8.