Outgoing Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma and his wife, Manu Verma, hosted a reception at India House on Saturday to bid farewell to friends from the media amid conversations, shared memories, and music, saying these are the memories they will carry back to Brussels.

Pranay Verma, who has recently been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Belgium and the European Union, said Bangladesh will remain one of their most cherished postings because of the warm affection and friendship they received here.

“Don’t say goodbye; let’s say, ‘See you again.’ Thank you very much for being there with us,” he said in his brief remarks.

The envoy sang two songs - one in Bangla and one in Hindi - and said, “I truly hope our paths will cross again, somewhere, sometime.”

Senior journalists including former Dhaka bureau chief of the Associated Press (AP) Farid Hossain, current AP Bureau Chief Julhas Alam, and members of the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh, including its President AKM Moinuddin and General Secretary Emrul Kayesh, were present.

Pranay Verma is likely to leave Dhaka for Brussels in the last week of this month.

India has appointed Dinesh Trivedi as the next High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs announced the appointment recently, noting that he is expected to take up the assignment shortly.

Pranay Verma, who previously served as India’s Ambassador to Vietnam, arrived in Dhaka on September 21, 2022.

Trivedi served as Union Minister for Railways and Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare during the UPA regime as a member of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

He resigned from the TMC on February 12, 2021, and joined the BJP on March 6, 2021.