PM Modi and Sheikh Hasina to hold official bilateral talks
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh Counterpart Sheikh Hasina will hold bilateral talks in New Delhi today.
More than 20 pacts are set to be inked after delegation level talks between the two Prime Ministers.
Topmost among them are a comprehensive defence pact and a civil nuclear deal which could see India building nuclear power reactors for Bangladesh.
Bus service connecting two cities of India and Bangladesh and train services involving West Bengal and Bangladesh will be launched during the visit.
Earlier Friday afternoon, PM Modi, setting aside the protocols, travelled to the Indira Gandhi International Airport to receive his Bangladeshi counterpart.
On their arrival, officials from Bangladesh, including Hasina’s entourage, also took selfies with PM Modi.
Friday evening External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called on the visiting dignitary at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Bangladesh Prime Minister will start her official engagements today with ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhawan. After that, she will visit Rajghat to pay floral tribute to Mahatama Gandhi.
This will be followed by talks with PM Modi at the Hyderabad House. She will launch the bus and train service at the same venue.
In the afternoon, Ms Hasina will participate in the “Sommanona Ceremony” to honour Indian Martyrs in the Liberation War, followed by call on Vice President Hamid Ansari.
The Bangladesh Prime Minister will visit the Dargah of famous Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer on April 9, and come back to the national capital the same evening to attend a dinner hosted by President Pranab Mukherji at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Hasina will be joined by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerji at the Prime Minister’s lunch and other programmes at the Hyderabad House on Saturday, and the President’s dinner on April 9.
She will leave for her home country in the afternoon of April 10, after attending a business event jointly organised by the three Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
