Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar on Saturday (January 20, 2024) said Bangladesh-India relations are growing from strength to strength. "Look forward to receiving him (Dr Hasan Mahmud) in Delhi soon," he said as he met his Bangladesh counterpart Dr Hasan Mahmud on the sidelines of the 19th NAM Summit. Jaishankar said he is glad to meet with his new Bangladesh counterpart, Hasan Mahmud in Kampala, Uganda. "Congratulated him on his appointment and wished him all success," said the Indian External Affairs Minister. Both the ministers discussed various issues of mutual interests and ways to carry forward the existing excellent bilateral relations between the two countries, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They also discussed the upcoming visit of Bangladesh Foreign Minister to New Delhi. Hasan Mahmud led the Bangladesh delegation to the 19th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) held on January 19-20. He will also lead the third South Summit of the G77 and China scheduled to be held on January 21-22. Read more: Every country should take its responsibilities towards refugees very seriously: David Cameron Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the UN Muhammad A Muhith and Bangladesh High Commissioner to Kenya and Uganda, among others, are accompanying the Foreign Minister. Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud is scheduled to leave for New Delhi, India on February 7 – the first bilateral visit by the minister after his appointment – to further strengthen Bangladesh-India relations. “It’s likely to be a three-day visit,” he told reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on January 18, noting that the agenda of the visit is yet to be finalised. The Foreign Minister said he will be visiting the country at the invitation of Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar. Asked whether he will have a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the visit, Mahmud said, “It is too early to say.” Jaishankar, earlier, invited his Bangladesh counterpart Dr Hasan Mahmud to visit New Delhi at a mutually convenient time. Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma extended the invitation on behalf of the Indian External Affairs Minister on Monday. The Foreign Minister accepted the invitation and told him that he would visit Delhi soon. Read more: FM Hasan meets his Palestinian counterpart

- Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Thursday said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s participation at the G20 Summit in New Delhi will add yet another feather to the ‘Golden Chapter’ in Dhaka-Delhi ties. "We look forward to working together with G20 partners to find multi-dimensional solutions to the multiple crises plaguing our world," he said. The Foreign Minister was speaking as the chief guest at the opening session of a discussion titled “G20 Summit: Dhaka to New Delhi”, at Foreign Service Academy. Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma, Ambassador Mohammad Ziauddin, who is discharging his responsibilities as the Bangladesh Sherpa for G20, and President of the Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry and G20 Employer Advocate Selima Ahmad, MP spoke at the opening session. The recognition by G20 — under the Indian Presidency — that the status quo is no longer sustainable for multilateralism to function is a major turn-around, Momen said. The Foreign Minister hoped that Bangladesh can make visible and meaningful contributions to the G20 processes through multi-stakeholder participation. The Prime Minister has been invited to the Summit to be held in New Delhi on September 9-10, and she guided the nature and level of engagements with the different G20 processes. “We thank them as they have honored us. We are among the nine countries which are invited. We feel very honored,” Foreign Minister Momen told reporters at a media briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Read more: Bangladesh's prosperity under Sheikh Hasina's leadership highly commendable: US Congressman Robert Pittenger

Highlighting the growing Dhaka-Delhi ties, Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Sunday said how India and its people had supported Bangladesh during the 1971 Liberation War is written in blood. While launching the Bangladesh Youth Delegation 2022 programme with Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswami at the high commission in Dhaka, Hasan said the relations between the two countries reached new heights under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. The information minister emphasised strengthening people-to-people relations and hoped that such a programme will play an important role. Doraiswami said the youth delegation programme will help the young people know each other and take the relationship forward to the next generation. Also read: India resumes Bangladesh Youth Delegation programme MAY 15, 2022 The programme this time will be more inclusive and it is their best effort to reach out to the young people across Bangladesh and motivate them to become ambassadors of Bangladesh and ambassadors of the two countries' friendship, he added.

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswami has said trade will be potentially a key driver of Bangladesh-India friendship in the future with focus on value addition to products but the environment will remain an important issue to look at.   “We should look at trade and a whole new framework. I believe trade will be potentially a key driver of our friendship in the future,” he said, adding that the two countries need to be futuristic about how to deal with the next generation of issues. High Commissioner Doraiswami made the remarks while delivering a keynote speech at a symposium titled ‘Bangladesh-India Relations: Prognosis for the Future’ which premiered on Thursday night on Facebook. An array of experts from Bangladesh and India – former Ambassador Tariq A. Karim, Director, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore Prof C. Raja Mohan, Dhaka University Prof Imtiaz Ahmed, former Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) President Maj Gen (Retd) A. N. M. Muniruzzaman, CPD Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun, Brig. Gen.(Retd.) Shahedul Anam Khan and former Indian Foreign Secretary Krishnan Srinivasan - were brought together for the online symposium to assess the state of relations between the two countries and identify the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the effort to take it forward. Renowned scholar-diplomat and adviser on foreign affairs to the last caretaker government Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury chaired the event hosted by the Cosmos Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Cosmos Group. Chairman of Cosmos Foundation Enayetullah Khan delivered the opening remarks at the event. For future trade, High Commissioner Doraiswami laid emphasis on some areas in which Bangladesh could provide India a key base for value addition, including to food production and RMG and textile.

Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar concluded his day-long visit here on Thursday night reaffirming the robust Bangladesh-India partnership.

India has said it is committed to taking forward the strong relations with Bangladesh in the next 50 years and beyond focusing on mutual benefits and expanding it to all the sectors, noting that India never shows any ‘big-brother’ attitude towards Bangladesh.