Bangladesh FM Dr Hasan Mahmud arrives in India on a three-day maiden visit
Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud, who arrived in India on his first official visit on Wednesday, held a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and discussed steps to "forge ahead" in their “vibrant and people-centric partnership.” They also exchanged views on regional and international developments.
 
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, Dr Hasan Mahmud who paid his official visit to India from February 7 to 9— the first bilateral visit to any country after assuming office as the new Foreign Minister of Bangladesh in January this year, held delegation-level talks with EAM S Jaishankar who also hosted a dinner in his honour.
 
During their interaction, the two Ministers reviewed the progress in wide-ranging areas of bilateral relations, including cross-border connectivity, economic and development partnership, cooperation in defence and security, power, energy, water resources and people-to-people exchanges, the MEA said.
 
They also discussed areas of future engagement in line with the national development goals of the two countries, including the visions of “Viksit Bharat 2047” and “Smart Bangladesh 2041,” the Ministry said.
 
The two leaders also exchanged views on regional and multilateral issues of common interest. They expressed commitment to further enhance their collaboration to promote sub-regional cooperation within the framework of BIMSTEC, IORA and BBIN, the Ministry maintained.
 
Earlier, Foreign Minister Mahmud visited Rajghat to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi. He also held a meeting with the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
 
During the visit, Foreign Minister Mahmud will also call on the President of India and hold a meeting with Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal. He will travel to Kolkata on 9 February before concluding his visit.
 
The visit of Foreign Minister of Bangladesh to India is part of the on-going high-level exchanges between the two countries and has enabled both sides to chart out the course of their forward-looking engagement during the new term of the Government in Bangladesh.

The visit follows the bilateral meeting between the two Foreign Ministers on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit held in Uganda last month and has contributed to further strengthening of the traditional, long-standing friendship and cooperation between the two countries.