By Sumi Khan
Dhaka, Feb 4 : Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his wish to visit Tungipara in Bangladesh — the birthplace of the Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, popularly known as Bangabandhu, the country’s Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said.
Speaking to IANS on Wednesday, Momen said Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is likely to visit Bangladesh before Modi’s scheduled tour in March.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Modi are scheduled to hold summit-level talks in Dhaka on March 27, taking forward the relations between the two countries keeping the celebratory year in focus.
Bangladesh and India would hold four Secretary-level meetings before the summit talks between the two Prime Ministers, to provide inputs for the March 27 talks.
The meeting between the Water Resources Secretaries of the two countries would be held in Indian capital New Delhi while Commerce Secretary-level, Home Secretary-level and Shipping Secretary-level talks would be held in Dhaka.
“PM Modi wishes to visit Tungipara… It’s yet to be finalised. But We’re progressing quite smoothly,” Momen said.
The two countries are currently working on four to five MoUs to be signed during the Summit meeting and there is a possibility to increase the number of bilateral documents with inputs from four Secretary-level meetings.
Earlier in the December 17, 2020 virtual meeting, Hasina thanked Modi for accepting her invitation to visit Bangladesh in March 2021 to join the celebrations on the occasion of 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s Independence and 50 years of Bangladesh-India diplomatic relations.
Bangladesh and India have described the year 2021 as historic in their bilateral relations as they would be commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Liberation War and the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Prime Minister requested the Indian side to consider Bangladesh’s proposal to name the historic road from Mujib Nagar to Nodia on Bangladesh-India border as “Shadhinota Shorrok” commemorating the historical significance of the road during Bangladesh’s Liberation War.
The road will jointly be inaugurated during the PM-level meeting, said Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, adding that Feni Bridge is also likely to be inaugurated.
On trade issues, Masud Momen said the bilateral trade between the two countries crossed $1 billion mark and there is a scope for further expansion of trade addressing the barriers.
Masud Momen also mentioned the air bubble arrangements in the Covid-19 pandemic situation have been extended between Bangladesh and India until April 30.
Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from IANS service.