PM Modi likely to visit Bangladesh in March

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Bangladesh from March 16 to 18 where he will hold talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina, according to local media reports.

Dhaka Tribune, citing multiple sources, has reported that a wide range of bilateral issues is expected to be discussed during PM Modi's official talks with Sheikh Hasina on March 18.

The Prime Minister will arrive in Dhaka on March 16 for his three-day visit. On March 17, Modi will take part in an event being organised to mark the birth centenary celebration of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman.

According to the report in Dhaka Tribune, Foreign Secretary Harsha Vardhan Shringla will visit Bangladesh in the first week of March to prepare the groundwork for the Prime Minister's visit.

"It is confirmed that the Prime Minister will attend the ceremony on March 17, but the details of his schedule are yet to be finalised," Debabrata Paul, Second Secretary, Press, of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, was quoted as saying.

Last year, at the invitation of PM Modi, the Bangladesh Prime Minister had paid an official visit to India on October 5.

However, Bangladesh Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen and Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan had cancelled their scheduled visits to India a few months after her visit.

After Momen cancelled his visit, the MEA had said that any speculation that the development was connected with the passage of Citizenship Amendment Bill was "unwarranted".

The Citizenship Amendment Act allows non-Muslim refugees who came to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before December 31, 2014, to have Indian citizenship.