According to the itinerary the venue of the meeting is the Bangladesh Bhawan in Shantiniketan and the two leaders are to hold talks in the afternoon following lunch to be hosted by Mr Modi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Photo: AFP/File)
The bilateral meeting scheduled to be held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina at Shantiniketan on 25 May assumes significance with the Bangladesh general elections six months away.
According to the itinerary the venue of the meeting is the Bangladesh Bhawan in Shantiniketan and the two leaders are to hold talks in the afternoon following lunch to be hosted by Mr Modi. Thereafter Sheikh Hasina will fly to Kolkata and Mr Modi to Delhi.
Last time the two leaders met on the side lines of the Commonwealth summit in April. On 6 June Mrs Hasina will fly to Canada to attend the G-7 Outreach meeting on the invitation of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau.
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During her stay in Kolkata, Mrs Hasina will attend an Iftar party to be organised by the Bangladesh high commissioner. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been invited to the programme.
The two major areas of concern for Mrs Hasina are the signing of the Teesta Water treaty and the Rohingya refugee crisis. About seven lakh Rohingya refugees of Rakhine state in Myanmar have taken shelter in various camps near Cox’s Bazar of Bangladesh.
These two issues are to figure prominently before the coming Jatiya Sangsad polls. Banerjee has so far opposed the signing of the Teesta Water treaty and also differs on the Rohingya crisis from the positions of both Mr Modi and Mrs Hasina.
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