Indian Foreign Secretary Jaishankar arriving in Dhaka Monday

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is sending down his new Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar to Dhaka on Monday to reach out to the neighbours to strengthen bilateral ties.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 1 March 2015, 02:28 PM
Updated : 1 March 2015, 02:28 PM

The foreign ministry in Dhaka has not officially announced the visit as yet, but officials there say Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque would receive him at the airport at around 9.30am.
 
Jaishankar will fly in from Bhutan from where he began his SAARC Yatra (visit) on Sunday.
 
The secretary will meet Haque at the foreign ministry at about 11:15am before meeting Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali.
 
The secretary will also meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her Parliament office at 6pm.
 
His tour was first announced on Feb 13 when Modi called SAARC leaders just before the beginning of the ICC Cricket World Cup. 

He informed them he would send his new foreign secretary on a ‘SAARC Yatra’ soon.

Modi has prioritised India's neighbourhood policy since taking over last year. He had invited all SAARC leaders to his swearing-in ceremony.

India’s external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin had said the secretary would go to Pakistan from Bangladesh on Tuesday to conclude the first leg of the eight-country tour in Afghanistan on Wednesday.

A senior official of the foreign ministry told bdnews24.com that “naturally almost all aspects of Dhaka-Delhi ties would come up during his meeting with the Secretary Haque”.
 
He will also discuss sub-regional connectivity and power trade issues since Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan are working in parallel with the SAARC initiatives.
 
SAARC countries collectively failed to ink any deal on transport agreement in the last year’s summit at Kathmandu.
 
But India is pushing ahead with sub-regional connectivity project with Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan to ensure seamless transit of vehicles among them.
 
This sub-regional process is a parallel initiative to the proposed SAARC transport agreement.
 
India is also planning an electricity grid among the SAARC nations and has already connected a power grid with Bangladesh.
 
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) are also discussing the scope for power trade and inter-grid connectivity.
 
The secretary’s visit also comes when Dhaka and Delhi have inched closer to inking the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) for swapping enclaves within each other`s territory.
 
Dhaka is expecting that the LBA will be ratified during the ongoing session of the India’s Parliament. 
 
Once ratified, Dhaka expects that Prime Minister Modi will make his first visit to Bangladesh.
 
Sources in India’s external affairs ministry earlier told bdnews24.com that Jaishankar had been asked by Modi to convey to the Bangladesh government India’s intention to clear the two contentious issues – LBA and Teesta water sharing – soon.
 
Dhaka has been pitching for an equitable share of the Teesta river water while demanding the passage of the LBA bill in India’s Parliament.
 
Secretary Jaishankar is also coming at a time when Bangladesh is witnessing a violent transport blockade and general strikes enforced by the BNP-led alliance.
 
New Delhi earlier made it clear that it was not their policy to interfere in any country’s internal issues.