Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Rahman to meet EAM, Goyal on Wednesday

Talks between India and Bangladesh to focus on reviving stalled projects, boosting investments and potential visit of Bangladesh PM amid efforts to repair strained ties

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman is scheduled to meet Union ministers and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval during his three-day trip to New Delhi from Tuesday. The two sides are likely to discuss increased investments by Indian public and private sectors, reviving projects stalled after the Sheikh Hasina government was ousted in August 2024, and also the possibility of Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman visiting India soon.

 

Dhaka and New Delhi are keen that the Bangladesh PM’s first bilateral visit as his country’s head of government should be to India, and the second week of May is being discussed as a possible time.

 

 

Khalilur Rahman, who was the NSA in the Mohammad Yunus-led interim government, landed in New Delhi on Tuesday evening. Apart from NSA Doval, he will hold meetings with External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday. 

 

Over the past month, New Delhi has continued to honour its commitments towards its neighbour’s energy security with the Numaligarh refinery supplying oil to Bangladesh in the midst of the conflict in West Asia. Dhaka is likely to request for additional supplies.

 

Some of the outstanding issues between the two countries include the renewal of the 30-year Ganga water treaty, which was signed in December 1996 and ends this year. Dhaka has continued to demand the extradition of former prime minister Hasina, who is living in exile in India. It is not known if the modalities related to Adani Power’s thermal power plant in Jharkhand’s Godda, which supplies electricity to Bangladesh, will be discussed.

 

The visit of the Bangladesh Foreign Minister comes amid efforts by Dhaka and New Delhi to repair bilateral ties that were strained during the 18-month tenure of the interim government headed by Yunus, which came to power following the collapse of the Sheikh Hasina government in August, 2024. The Bangladesh Foreign Minister will depart from New Delhi on Thursday morning for Mauritius to attend a conference on Indian Ocean.