Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is keen to visit India, but the agenda for the proposed visit needs to be finalised first, according to a Bangladeshi diplomatic source cited by The Hindu.
The development comes after Rahman skipped the BRICS summit in Delhi, where he had been invited as the head of BIMSTEC. A Bangladeshi official said his absence should not be seen as an attempt to avoid engagement with India.
Rahman could visit New Delhi by November or early December, particularly as the 1996 Ganga Water Treaty is due for renewal by the end of December. Bangladesh considers the treaty an important area of bilateral cooperation.
Officials say discussions are needed to build a broader agenda for the visit. Possible areas include restoring full-scale visa services, easing trade restrictions, improving the use of land ports and reviving commercial ties between the two countries.
Energy cooperation is another potential area. Bangladesh is facing an acute energy supply crunch, and Dhaka is looking at possible assistance from India as a confidence-building measure.
According to the Bangladeshi official, Rahman wants his India visit to produce concrete outcomes and help move India-Bangladesh relations forward. Preparatory discussions between officials from both sides are expected to play a key role in shaping the visit’s agenda.
