On the eve of the G20 Leaders’ Summit 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Friday in New Delhi. During the talk, the two leaders focused on various areas and issues such as connectivity, as well as strategic and commercial linkage. With Bangladesh emerging as a link to landlocked Northeast India, New Delhi is making it a point to ramp up outreach to Dhaka to give a fillip to work on joint projects that will be a boost for overall connectivity in the Northeast areas.
Prime Minister Modi’s meeting with Prime Minister Hasina assumes significance in this backdrop and context, sources said. The meeting was also important with India hoping that Dhaka would continue to balance its ties with New Delhi and Beijing. Indian officials are also hopeful that Bangladesh will continue to rein in the radical elements and extremists.
“The officials accompanying PM Hasina assured that the soil of Bangladesh will not be allowed to be used for any activities against India,” diplomatic sources told The Daily Guardian. “Had productive deliberations with PM Sheikh Hasina. The progress in India-Bangladesh relations in the last nine years has been very gladdening. Our talks covered areas like connectivity, commercial linkage and more,” Prime Minister posted a message on X (formerly Twitter). He also uploaded the images of the meeting.
According to sources, Japan, Bangladesh and India have formed a trilateral to connect Northeast India via Bangladesh to the Bay of Bengal. This is one of the prime areas on which Modi and Hasina will keep their collective focus on, said sources. Significantly, this was the last formal meeting between the two premiers before the next parliamentary elections in Bangladesh.
PM Modi described his meeting with PM Hasina as “productive deliberations”. India has invited several non-member countries including Bangladesh as guests to participate in the meetings and the G20 Summit in New Delhi.
The bilateral meeting between the two prime ministers took place at the residence of PM Modi. “PM Modi’s invitation to Hasina to attend the G20 Summit as a non-member guest speaks volumes about the importance that India attaches to Bangladesh, “ said sources. Earlier in the day, PM Modi in a post on X said that he was looking forward to a bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden, Mauritius PM Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina. PM Modi held his first bilateral meeting with his Mauritian counterpart late on Friday afternoon. Modi is set to hold more than 15 bilateral meetings with the world leaders on the sideline of the G20 Summit which will be held on 9-10 September at the International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (IECC) complex, also known as Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.