Jaishankar, Bangladesh envoy chalk out roadmap to normalise ties

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday met Bangladesh High Commissioner Riaz Hamidullah and discussed ways to give a new direction to bilateral ties now that a democratically-elected Tarique Rahman government is in place in Dhaka.

”Met with High Commissioner @hamidullah_riaz of Bangladesh. Our conversation was focused on advancing our bilateral ties,” Jaishankar wrote on X after the brief meeting.

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This was the first meeting between Jaishankar and the Bangladesh envoy who took charge in New Delhi in April last year. Hamidullah is expected to meet Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal also to discuss how trade and commercial links between the two countries could be further strengthened.

Sources said Jaishankar expressed India’s desire to normalise bilateral ties after a prolonged period of strain. He was confident that the two countries could put behind them certain unsavoury developments of the past one and a half years.

The Bangladesh envoy is understood to have expressed confidence that there is no room for anyone to question the nature of relationship between the two countries. He was of the view that the ties between the two countries should flourish on the basis of dignity, equality and respect for each other.

He, however, candidly told Jaishankar that there is a perception in Bangladesh that some of the ”ills” in the country when the Sheikh Hasina government was in power were supported by India.

Jaishankar agreed with The Bangladesh envoy’s opinion that the two countries should engage ”steadily and gradually.” There was also a discussion between the two sides on how the two countries could resume cricketing ties.

Meanwhile, sources confirmed that Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilul Rahman will make a brief visit to New Delhi in early April on his way to Mauritius for an Indian Ocean meet. This will be the first visit to India by a minister from Bangladesh after the new government assumed office in Dhaka.

Sources said the two sides are in touch with regard to the visit and there is a possibility of the Bangladeshi minister having some ”important meetings” in New Delhi before proceeding to Mauritius.