New Delhi, March 20 — External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held separate meetings in New Delhi on Friday with Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Riaz Hamidullah and Kazakhstan Ambassador to India Azamat Yeskarayev to discuss ways to deepen bilateral relations and expand cooperation.
Jaishankar and High Commissioner Hamidullah focused on advancing India-Bangladesh ties. Jaishankar posted on X about the meeting; Hamidullah described it as a courtesy call and reaffirmed Dhaka’s commitment to close cooperation with New Delhi, saying Bangladesh stands ready to walk and work with India in shared interests for mutual benefit.
In a separate meeting, Jaishankar received Kazakh Ambassador Azamat Yeskarayev and discussed measures to take the India–Kazakhstan partnership forward, noting ongoing diplomatic engagement with Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry.
The meetings follow several recent exchanges between India and Bangladesh. On March 16, officials reviewed the Line of Credit and Bangladesh’s potential participation in India’s power exchange market, and discussed how Bangladesh could draw lessons from India’s digital financial infrastructure. On that day, Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma paid a courtesy call on Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, Adviser to the Prime Minister on finance and planning, to discuss economic cooperation, including strengthening transport, energy and digital connectivity and exploring new people-centered collaboration aligned with both countries’ development priorities.
Separately, Bangladesh has arrangements to import additional diesel from India. Officials said on March 15 that Bangladesh will import an extra 45,000 tonnes by April. Md. Murshed Hossain Azad, General Manager (Commercial & Operations) of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, reported that 5,000 tonnes had already arrived from India, another 5,000 tonnes were expected around March 18–19, and a proposal to import an additional 40,000 tonnes is under procedural processing; once letters of credit and formalities are completed, that shipment is expected by April.
