India, Bangladesh to hold foreign office consultations tomorrow

New Delhi: India and Bangladesh will hold the next round of Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) in New Delhi on Friday.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs release, the FOC will review the bilateral relations, including cooperation in the wake of COVID-19, border management and security, trade and investment, connectivity, energy, water resources, development partnership and regional and multilateral issues.

The Indian side will be led by Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Foreign Secretary and the Bangladesh side will be led by Ambassador Masud Bin Momen, Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh.

Taking to Twitter, Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said: “Pleased to receive Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen. Confident that the Foreign Office Consultations led by the two Foreign Secretaries tomorrow would be productive.”

“Both two sides will discuss joint activities to held throughout the year as the two countries celebrate 50 years of their diplomatic ties,” MEA stated adding “Preparations for the upcoming visit of the PM to Bangladesh will also be discussed.”

Bangladesh is one of the key pillars of India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ Policy. Both countries have comprehensive cooperation through more than 60 bilateral mechanisms.