New Delhi: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has reached New Delhi on a four-day visit to India to attend the Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the Prime Minister and her entourage landed at Palam Air Force Station around 10:30am local time on Thursday (Oct 3). Bangladesh High Commissioner to New Delhi Syed Moazzem Ali received the prime minister.
The flight earlier departed from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 8:10am for New Delhi. Members of her cabinet saw the prime minister off at the airport.
The prime minister has embarked on the Delhi visit, the maiden one after the general election in Bangladesh and India, at the invitation of her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
On Thursday, Sheikh Hasina will attend the WEF Country Strategy Dialogue on Bangladesh at Hotel Taj Palace and join a reception to be arranged in her honor at Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi.
On Oct 4, she will attend a session with CEOs of India and inauguration of India-Bangladesh Business Forum (IBBF) at ITC Maurya and WEF Closing Plenary at Hotel Taj Palace. Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore Heng Swee Keat will call on Sheikh Hasina Friday evening.
On Oct 5, the Bangladesh prime minister will join a bilateral meeting with Narendra Modi and attend the official lunch at Hyderabad House. She will pay a courtesy call on Indian President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Indian National Congress President Sonia Gandhi will call on the Bangladesh premier at her place of residence on October 6.
Officials said that at the official talks the prime ministers of the two neighbours will review the issues they discussed during the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly held in New York last month.
They said 10-12 10 memorandums of understanding in different sectors will be signed during Sheikh Hasina’s visit while the two prime ministers will inaugurate several projects.
Noted Indian film director Shyam Benegal, who is assigned to make a film on the life of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, will meet the Bangladeshi premier during the visit.
Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to return on Oct 6.
The entourage members of the prime minister include her daughter Saima Wazed Hossain, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, Education Minister Dipu Moni, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, Prime Minister’s Economic Affairs Adviser Dr Moshiur Rahman, Private Industry and Investment Affairs Adviser Salman F Rahman, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, State Minister for ICT Junaid Ahmed Palak and State Minister for Water Resources AKM Enamul Haque Shamim.