NaMo to visit Bangladesh next?

Dhaka: After completing his three-nation visit to China, Mongolia and South Korea, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Bangladesh in June. This will be the Prime Minister’s first official vist to the country. 

According to highly placed diplomatic sources in Dhaka and New Delhi, Modi has been “eagerly waiting” to visit Dhaka.

“He (Narendra Modi) made a commitment to visit Dhaka after resolving at least one of the two major pending issues- Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) and the Teesta River water sharing deal. As the LBA is done now, his visit to Bangladesh is confirmed,” he said.

Another source in Dhaka said Modi would be visiting Dhaka by the second week of June.

The Indian PM’s visit to Bangladesh will contribute positively to Indo-Bangla relations, said an Indian diplomat in Dhaka. Modi has already visited Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka in South Asia.

Officials of Bangladesh Foreign Ministry and Indian High Commission in Dhaka said both the governments were working to find a mutually convenient time for Modi’s trip to Dhaka.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina first invited Modi to visit Bangladesh when she phoned her opposite number on May 18 last year to congratulate him on his party’s victory in the Lok Sabha elections.

Later that month, she wrote a letter to Modi inviting him to visit Bangladesh.

The Indian premier in a letter to Sheikh Hasina in the following month said he accepted the invitation. He also invited Hasina to visit India.

Modi in March this year wrote another letter to his Bangladesh counterpart. Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar handed over the letter to Sheikh Hasina on March 2.