Foreign Secretary Md Jashim Uddin on Tuesday said Dhaka is ready to see a bilateral meeting between Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Bimstec Summit and is expecting a positive response from Delhi.
He said the strain that is there in the relations between Bangladesh and India could be overcome if the bilateral meeting is held between Prof Yunus and Narendra Modi.
"On our part, we are ready (for the talks). We will be waiting," Jashim Uddin told reporters at a media briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Foreign Secretary said Bangladesh is giving much importance to the meeting as Dhaka believes the meeting will help take forward the relations.
Earlier, Indian External Affairs S Jaishankar said India was considering the meeting between Prof Yunus and Narendra Modi.
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On Wednesday, Bangladesh approached India through the diplomatic channel to arrange a meeting between Dr Yunus and Indian Prime Minister Modi on the sidelines of the upcoming Bimstec Summit in Bangkok.
On March 21, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said they have no update to share regarding a likely bilateral meeting between the two leaders.
“On the meeting that you asked, a bilateral meeting, I don't have any update to share at this point in time,” said MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal at a weekly briefing in New Delhi when a journalist wanted to know whether there was a likelihood of Prime Minister Modi meeting Chief Adviser of Bangladesh Prof Yunus on the sidelines of the Summit.
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The MEA Spokesperson also said Bangladesh-India relationship is a wide canvas and they have been engaged with Bangladesh on several issues - development cooperation, economic matters and on issues of connectivity.
Dr Yunus is scheduled to pay a two-day visit to Thailand to attend the BIMSTEC Summit, to be held on April 2-4 in Bangkok.
Thailand will host the 6th Summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) and Bangladesh will take responsibility as the next chair of Bimstec there, officials said.
Thailand has taken over the Bimstec Chairmanship from Sri Lanka since 30 March 2022.
Bimstec consists of seven member countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Bimstec Secretary General Indra Mani Pandey recently said the Summit will have some significant outcomes. "It will set a direction for the future of Bimstec," he said.
Dr Yunus said Dhaka has always insisted that Bangladesh’s relationship with India will be the best relationship ever.
Because, he explained, the fate of Bangladesh and India is tied together and they cannot be isolated from each other.
“So, we are always encouraging everything to happen in the best possible way,” Dr Yunus told BBC in a most recent interview, adding that the clouds due to some fake news are not part of the relationship that the two countries enjoy.
The Chief Adviser thinks Bangladesh and India have an excellent relationship. “We will continue to do it,” he said, describing India as a good business partner of Bangladesh.