External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday held a bilateral meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart AK Abdul Momen and discussed the preparatory measures in relation to the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India in October during which a number of Memoranda of Understanding are expected to be signed.
The External Affairs Minister is in Bangladesh on a three-day visit, his first to Bangladesh after taking over the charge of External Affairs Minister.
Speaking to the media after the bilateral discussions, Jaishankar said that he had a fruitful interaction with his Bangladeshi counterpart. “India is looking forward to host Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in New Delhi in October,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister congratulated the visiting dignitary on his appointment as the External Affairs Minister of India and welcomed his first visit to Bangladesh in this capacity.
In the meeting, the two ministers reaffirmed that the relationship between India and Bangladesh, forged in the 1971 Liberation War, goes far beyond a strategic partnership.
At a joint briefing with Momen at the state guesthouse Jamuna in Dhaka after bilateral talks on Tuesday, Jaishankar told the media that the two sides discussed the entire gamut of bilateral issues of mutual interest and expressed satisfaction at the excellent state of bilateral relations existing between the two countries.
They reviewed ongoing cooperation including the implementation of decisions taken during the last meeting of the Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) in February 2019 in New Delhi, the External Affairs Minister stressed.
Jaishankar further stressed that India continues to be committed to solving Teesta issue along with 53 other common rivers and his country would increase humanitarian assistance for Rohingyas in Bangladesh, according to the Bangladesh media.
He also expressed appreciation for the humanitarian gesture of Bangladesh in supporting a large number of displaced persons from the Rakhine region of Myanmar and assured India’s continued support for safe, speedy and sustainable return of the Rohingyas to Myanmar.
“India has been providing humanitarian assistance to Rohingyas in Bangladesh and it will do more in the future,” Jaishankar was quoted as saying by The Daily Star.
The External Affairs Minister, in the briefing, also stated that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process, now underway in Assam, is "an internal matter of India."
Before the meeting, the foreign minister visited Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi-32 and paid tributes to Bangladesh's Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman by placing wreaths at his portrait there.
"Deeply moved by the visit to Bangabandhu Memorial Museum. Paid respects to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Father of the Nation," Jaishankar tweeted.
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