Modi invites Hasina to India

New Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina to visit India.

Modi conveyed the invitation through Bangladesh’s Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury during a meeting with her at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Tuesday noon.

Chaudhury found Modi 'positive' on solving outstanding bilateral issues like the sharing of the Teesta water and implementing the Land Boundary Agreement.

"Mr Modi assured me of very active consideration of all outstanding bilateral issues like Teesta water- sharing and the Land Boundary Agreement. He is keen to sort them out," she told journalists after the meeting.

Chaudhury handed over a letter from Hasina, who is now on a visit to Japan, to the Indian prime minister, which promises to 'work together to take bilateral relations to a new high'.

The letter invites Modi to visit Dhaka at the earliest possible.

The speaker said the Indian prime minister expressed his willingness to make a trip to Bangladesh ‘as early as possible’.

Later, Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh told a media briefing that Modi also invited Hasina through Chaudhury to visit Delhi.

Singh said Modi is keen to carry forward the 'the entire gamut of bilateral relations marked by much cooperation' in areas from security to trade and from power to connectivity.

She quoted the prime minister as saying: "The outstanding issues will be sorted out. India has a long-time friendship with Bangladesh."

Singh said Modi praised Bangladesh's success in areas like micro-finance and poverty alleviation and said South Asian nations should adopt each other's best practices.

Modi, who took oath as the 15th prime minister of India on Monday, also held meeting with several other leaders of South Asian countries on Tuesday.

The speaker attended the oath-taking ceremony as Hasina is on a visit to Japan.