Bangladesh president coming Dec 18 on six-day visit

Bangladesh President M. Abdul Hamid arrives in India Dec 18 on a six-day official visit at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee.

The Bangladesh president, besides meeting President Mukherjee, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Hamid Ansari, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, according to a Bangladesh High Commission statement.

Hamid will visit Ajmer, Agra and Jaipur during his stay as well as Kolkata before returning to Dhaka on Dec 23.

The visit comes as the Narendra Modi government has indicated its willingness to go ahead with the India-Bangladesh land swap agreement. Under the swap, India will exchange 111 enclaves measuring 17,160 acres with Bangladesh and receive 51 enclaves covering 7,110 acres.

Almost 51,000 people reside in these enclaves. The territories involved in the exchange are in the states of Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Tripura.