EAM says charting out ‘forward-looking engagement’ with Bangladesh

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Bangladeshi counterpart Hasan Mahmud on Wednesday carried out a comprehensive review of India-Bangladesh ties, especially in areas of cross-border connectivity, defence and security, power, energy, water resources and people-to-people exchanges.

Mahmud is on a four-day visit to India from Tuesday, his first bilateral foreign trip since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came to power for a fifth term after a landslide victory in the parliamentary elections last month.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Mahmud’s visit enabled both sides to chart out a course of “forward-looking engagement” between the two countries in the new term of the government in Bangladesh.

Following the talks, Jaishankar also hosted a dinner in Mahmud’s honour.

It said they also discussed areas of future engagement in line with the national development goals of the two countries, including the visions of “Viksit Bharat 2047” and “Smart Bangladesh 2041”.

It said Jaishankar and Mahmud expressed commitment to further enhance India-Bangladesh collaboration to promote sub-regional cooperation within the framework of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association) and BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal) initiative.