Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman will leave Dhaka on April 7 for a stopover in New Delhi before travelling to the Indian Ocean Conference in Mauritius (April 10–12), a senior Foreign Ministry official said. During the New Delhi visit, the minister is scheduled to hold courtesy meetings with several Indian leaders, including External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, the National Security Adviser, and Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
Mahbubul Alam, Director General of the Public Diplomacy Wing at the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry, told reporters that the stopover is intended to reinforce stable, continuous bilateral ties grounded in mutual respect, trust and shared interests. He said the meetings are expected to create a foundation for deeper, sustainable cooperation between Bangladesh and India. Humayun Kabir, Adviser on Foreign Affairs to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, will accompany the foreign minister for the New Delhi engagements and will also attend the Mauritius conference.
The visit follows a series of recent high-level interactions aimed at widening practical cooperation. Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma recently called on Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to discuss people-centred collaboration in areas such as public health, financial inclusion, women’s empowerment, rural development, trade and investment, ease of doing business, technology partnerships, and energy. Verma emphasized converting geographic proximity into economic and connectivity opportunities and strengthening people-to-people links.
On April 3, Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Riaz Hamidullah met India’s Chief of Army Staff, General Upendra Dwivedi, to explore enhanced defence cooperation including joint training. Earlier, on March 27, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh described Indo-Bangladesh relations as strategic and focused on the people during a Bangladeshi National Day reception in New Delhi.
Officials say the New Delhi meetings are intended to build on these recent exchanges and identify practical steps to expand bilateral cooperation across diplomatic, economic and security domains.
