Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay has arrived in Dhaka on a three-day visit, accepting an invitation from his Bangladesh counterpart.
Published : 06 Dec 2014, 09:38 AM
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina received Tobgay when he reached Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal Airport on a special Druk Air flight at 9am Saturday.
A trade agreement between the neighbours could be renewed during his visit. Apart from that, bilateral talks on power, water management, agriculture, communication, health, education and cultural exchange will be held.
A guard of honour awaited Tobgay at the airport, after which he introduced the members of his 10-member strong entourage to Hasina and her ministers.
A team of top Bhutan businesspersons is accompanying Prime Minister Tobgay.
Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, the heads of the three services of the armed forces and other senior officials were present at the airport to receive him.
Tobgay from the airport headed to the National Memorial at Savar, where Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque and Housing Minister Mosharraf Hossain greeted him.
He planted a sapling of ‘Uday Lotus’ and paid his respects to the martyrs of Bangladesh’s Liberation War.
Bhutan was the first country to recognise Bangladesh before it emerged as a sovereign country after nine months of war with Pakistan.
This was Tobgay’s first visit to Bangladesh after he became the country’s prime minister in July, 2013.
Tobgay had said he wished to visit Bangladesh in an address to the Bhutanese people. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sent him an official invitation after hearing the address, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said.
Trade worth $26 million takes place between Bangladesh and Bhutan. The landlocked Himalayan country recently said it wanted to buy internet bandwidth from Bangladesh.
It also wished to export stones and boulders for the construction of Bangladesh’s largest infrastructure project, the Padma Bridge.