Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina leaves for four-day visit to India

Dhaka: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday left here for a four-day state visit to India to meet the country's top leadership to further cement the multifaceted relationship and ink at least seven bilateral agreements in areas like water management, railway and science and technology.

A VVIP flight of state-run Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the prime minister and her entourage members took off from Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. Hasina is expected to land at Palam International Airport in New Delhi in the next two hours, aviation officials said.

“This is a state visit and she (Hasina) is going to Delhi at the invitation of her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi,” Bangladesh foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen had told a media briefing on Sunday.

Momen said issues related to security cooperation, investment, enhanced trade relations, power and energy sector cooperation, water sharing of common rivers, water resources management, border management, and combating drug smuggling and human trafficking are likely to get priority during the talks between Hasina and Modi.

Momen, who is also accompanying Hasina to India, said the agreements expected to be inked during the visit would be on water management, railway, science and technology, and information and broadcasting.