Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to leave Dhaka for New Delhi on Friday on a three-day visit to India at the invitation of her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to attend the G20 Leaders’ Summit.
A special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, carrying the prime minister and her entourage, will take off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the morning. The flight is scheduled to land at Palam Airport, New Delhi, at 1:15pm, according to the official schedule.
Hours after her arrival in New Delhi Sheikh Hasina will hold a bilateral meeting with Narendra Modi on Friday evening. Several important bilateral issues are expected to be discussed in the meeting, said Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen while briefing reporters on Thursday.
“Three memorandums of understanding (MoUs) – on cooperation in agriculture research, cultural exchange programmes, easing transactions between Bangladeshi Taka and Indian Rupee [the common people of the two countries] – are expected to be signed before the bilateral meeting,” he said.
Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to arrive at the residence of the Indian prime minister for the bilateral meeting and hold a tête-à-tête with her host there from 5:30pm to 7pm.
The Bangladesh prime minister will address two sessions of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, which is going to be kicked off at Bharat Mandapam Centre, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi with the theme of “One Earth, One Family and One Future” on September 9.
In the two sessions titled “One Earth” and “One Family,” she will focus on different challenges like climate change in the global south, post-Covid-19 economic recovery, and disruption of the global supply of fuel, food and fertilisers and other essential commodities due to the ongoing war in Europe.
She will also raise the experience of Bangladesh's incredible success in various socio-economic fields to the world leaders participating in the conference.
On the sideline of the summit, the prime minister is expected to meet four to five leaders of other countries (on Saturday), said Momen.
There is a possibility of (holding bilateral) meetings with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Argentinian President Alberto Angel Fernandez, the UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he said.
India, being the president of G20, invited nine countries, including Bangladesh, as guests to the G20 Leaders’ Summit, which is going to be held in New Delhi on September 9 and 10. The G20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union.
Foreign Minister Abdul Momen, Railways Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujan, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, and State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, among others, will accompany the prime minister during her visit.
On September 10, the prime minister will return home in the afternoon, leaving New Delhi by a chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines at 12:30pm.
