Sheikh Hasina held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on various issues of bilateral interest on the sidelines of the multilateral Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London on Thursday.
This marked the first meeting since the Bangladeshi leader’s visit to New Delhi last year and ahead of her proposed visit to India in the coming months.
“Neighbourhood first! Connecting with a neighbour and a close friend, PM Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Bangladesh Mrs Sheikh Hasina had a productive exchange of views on various issues of bilateral interest on the sidelines of CHOGM 2018,” India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
The Bangladeshi Prime Minister is among 53 heads of government attending the multilateral summit, during which one of the highlights for the South Asian region will be the meeting between Sheikh Hasina and Modi. The two leaders had last met in New Delhi during the Bangladesh PM’s visit to India in April 2017.
“Both leaders are scheduled to hold talks on a wide range of issues, including infrastructure development and other regional matters,” an official familiar with the meeting said.
The interaction is also expected to have finalised if a proposed visit by Sheikh Hasina to India in the coming months is likely to go ahead.
During her last Indian visit, Bangladesh and India had signed an agreement on a 130-km oil pipeline aimed at transporting oil from India to Bangladesh with a capacity of 1 million tonnes per annum.
India sees itself as an important development partner of Bangladesh, having extended lines of credit of over $8 billion to the country in the last seven years – the largest amount of credit India has committed to any single country.
Bilateral trade between the two nations almost tripled, from $2.75 billion in 2008-09 to $7.52 billion in 2016-17.
Sheikh Hasina, who addressed the Women's Forum at CHOGM earlier this week, has highlighted the Bangladesh's graduation from a least developed country (LDC) status to a developing one, having met all the United Nations' requisites
Addressing a session on "Education to Empower", she gave an overview of the country's achievements in the field of girls' education as part of a panel on "Building Bridges".
She has now joined 53 other heads of government from across the Commonwealth for the executive session of CHOGM, following a formal launch by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. On Friday, all the leaders will head to Windsor Castle for their retreat, when the leaders get together in an informal setting without any pre-set agenda or being accompanied by their usual coterie of civil servants and advisers.
As Britain takes over the two-year Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth at the heads of government deliberations, it marks the last such summit to be hosted by the Queen. With the monarch having ruled out long-haul travel, she is unlikely to travel to any future CHOGMs to be hosted by other member-states. This has triggered widespread speculation over whether her son and heir, Prince Charles, would be anointed as the next Head of the organisation. As the position is not hereditary, a decision on succession is expected during the informal chats at the retreat.
"It is my sincere wish that the Commonwealth will continue to offer stability and continuity for future generations – and will decide that one day the Prince of Wales will carry on the important work started by my father in 1949,” the Queen said in her opening address at the palace.