Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would have bilateral talks and a one-to-one meeting with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi today, Tuesday, as she arrived in New Delhi Monday in a four-day ‘state visit’.
She received a red carpet welcome at the Palam airport when a VVIP chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying her and her entourage members landed at 11:40am India time.
Indian State Minister for Railways and Textiles Darshana Vikram Jardosh and Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Muhammad Imran received her at the airport.
After the red carpet was rolled out at the airport in her honour, a six-member cultural team performed a welcome dance while playing musical instruments.
From the airport, she drove in a ceremonial motorcade to ITC Maurya, where she will be staying during the visit.
The streets along the route were decked with national flags of Bangladesh and India. Portraits of the two prime ministers were also erected along the way.
This is her first visit to India since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
“Delighted” Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar after meeting the prime minister at her place of residence tweeted: “The warmth and frequency of our leadership level contacts is a testimony to our close neighborly partnership.”
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, earlier, in Dhaka 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 on Tuesday.
She will be formally received by Narendra Modi at the Hyderabad House while a ceremonial guard of honour will be accorded to her there.
Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen in New Delhi said that pre-signing procedures of the planned seven MoUs will be completed by Monday night and will be handed over during bilateral talks between the two Prime Ministers.
“These are likely to be finalised tonight,” he told reporters after Jaishankar’s meeting with the Prime Minister.
The prime minister will join a luncheon to be hosted in her honour by her counterpart.
She is also expected to have separate courtesy calls on Indian President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday. The prime minister is scheduled to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat on Tuesday.
Earlier, on Monday she visited the much-revered Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah in New Delhi. She spent some time offering Fateha and munajat.
She offered nafal prayers and munajat, seeking development, prosperity and welfare of the country, the nation as well as the entire Muslim ummah, her Deputy Press Secretary KM Shakhawat Moon told journalists.
The prime minister went around the 700-year-old Dargah, which is the nerve centre of Sufi culture in India.
She was a regular visitor to the Dargah during her stay in Delhi from 1975 to 1981 following the assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The visit will further strengthen the multifaceted relationship between the two countries, said the Indian External Affairs Ministry.
