FM Hasan, Jaishankar discuss scope of future engagement in line with 'Smart Bangladesh 2041' and 'Viksit Bharat 2047'

Bangladesh and India on Wednesday discussed areas of future engagement in line with the national development goals of the two countries, including the visions of "Smart Bangladesh 2041" and "Viksit Bharat 2047"

Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud is paying an official visit to India from 7-9 February 2024 at the invitation of the External Affairs Minister of India Dr S Jaishankar.

"Our discussions today will strengthen Bangladesh-India Maitri [friendship]," Jaishankar said in a brief message shared from X, formerly known as Twitter.

This is Foreign Minister Mahmud's first official visit to India, and his first bilateral visit to any country, after assuming office as the new foreign minister of Bangladesh in January 2024.

There he held held delegation-level talks with the Indian minister. A dinner was hosted in the honour of the Bangladeshi foreign minister.

During their interaction, the two ministers reviewed the progress in wide-ranging areas of bilateral relations, including cross-border connectivity, economic and development partnership, cooperation in defence and security, power, energy, water resources and people-to-people exchanges.

The two leaders also exchanged views on regional and multilateral issues of common interest.

They expressed commitment to further enhance their collaboration to promote sub-regional cooperation within the framework of BIMSTEC, IORA and BBIN.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Mahmud visited Rajghat to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi.

Mahmud said it is essential to maintain political stability and peace for the sake of development and progress, and that is the issue getting priority during his ongoing bilateral visit to India.

He held a meeting with India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on the first day of his visit.

After the discussion at Sardar Patel Bhavan, the Awami League Joint General Secretary paid floral tributes at Mahatma Gandhi's cremation ground and memorial square at Rajghat.

Talking to reporters, he said unprecedented development has been achieved in Bangladesh under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, India has also made great progress under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

 "There is no alternative to maintaining regional political stability and peace to maintain this development trend. We discussed in that direction," Mahmud said.

Foreign Minister Hasan also said there was a discussion about the rehabilitation of Rohingyas with full rights to their own country Myanmar, and they also discussed ways to work together on the ongoing situation in Myanmar.

High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India Md Mustafizur Rahman, officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Bangladesh High Commission were present.

During the visit,  Mahmud will also call on the President of India and hold a meeting with Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal.

He will travel to Kolkata on 9 February before concluding his visit.

The visit of Bangladesh's foreign minister  to India is part of the ongoing high-level exchanges between the two countries and has enabled both sides to chart out the course of their forward-looking engagement during the new term of the Government in Bangladesh, according to the MEA.

The visit follows the bilateral meeting between the two foreign ministers  on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit held in Uganda last month and has contributed to further strengthening of the traditional, long-standing friendship and cooperation between the two countries.