India Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Dhaka Jun 6-7

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in Dhaka on a two-day state visit on June 6 after paving the way for implementation of the Land Boundary Agreement.

In a statement, the foreign ministry on Tuesday said Modi would be making his first trip to Bangladesh on June 6-7.

The government expects the visit will strengthen the bilateral relations.

The visit will end a year of wait to welcome the new Indian leader who has focused on building better relations with the neighbours since taking office in May last year.

Modi had expressed his willingness several times to visit Bangladesh, but could not, apparently due to two much-talked-about unresolved issues – the Teesta water-sharing, and ratification of Land Boundary Agreement.

His trip has been announced days after Indian Parliament cleared the way for implementing the LBA to swap adversely held enclaves.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who met Modi on the sidelines of last year’s SAARC Summit at Kathmandu, invited him long before.

The barrier to implementation of LBA for exchange of 162 enclaves has been removed with the constitutional amendment early this month.

Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Bangladesh Prime Minister’s Adviser Gowher Rizvi said recently that talks on Teesta water sharing agreement got new momentum.

Modi visited Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Singapore, China, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, the United States, Canada, France, Germany and Australia as the head of government in the last one year.

The foreign ministry said Hasina and Modi would hold official talks on bilateral ties during the visit.

Modi will also meet President Md Abdul Hamid.

He might speak on Bangladesh-India relations at an event at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre and receive a memento from the government on behalf of former Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

According to media reports, several agreements and memorandums of understanding might be signed during the visit.

Secretary to Multilateral and Economic Relations in India’s Ministry of External Affairs Sujata Mehta said last year after meeting Hasina that there would be some ‘specific proposals’ during Modi’s visit.

Mehta had proposed Bangladesh a $1 billion soft-term loan for the second term.

Bangladesh’s Economic Relations Division has already formulated drafts of 11 development projects based on the proposal.

An agreement on the loan and a bilateral trade pact might be signed and Indo-Bangladesh Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade renewed during Modi’s visit.

Announcing the visit simultaneously with Dhaka, New Delhi said the planned visit reflected the importance India attached to its relations with Bangladesh.

"The visit is expected to further expand the cordial and cooperative relationship between the two countries and strengthen the ties of friendship and trust between India and Bangladesh," India's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.