India, Bangladesh share ‘heat and historic ties’: MEA

The Bangladesh International Minister Khalilur Rahman arrived right here on Tuesday (April 7, 2026). That is the primary high-level bilateral go to from Bangladesh in additional than a yr, though Mr. Rahman, who was Nationwide Safety Advisor within the interim authorities of that nation, had travelled to Delhi in November 2025 for a regional assembly. 

Mr. Khalilur Rahman met India’s Nationwide Safety Advisor Ajit Doval for dinner on Tuesday (April 7) in a begin to his official interactions. Throughout his keep right here, from April 7 to April 9, Mr. Rahman is anticipated to carry a number of different conferences with high officers of the Indian authorities, together with his counterpart, Union Exterior Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.

“India and Bangladesh share heat and historic ties anchored in robust people-to-people relations. The go to will additional bolster India-Bangladesh partnership,” the official spokesperson of the Ministry of Exterior Affairs (MEA) Randhir Jaiswal mentioned, welcoming Mr. Khalilur Rahman, who’s accompanied by Humayun Kobir, International Affairs Advisor to Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.

Mr. Tarique Rahman was sworn to energy on February 17 after he led his celebration, the Bangladesh Nationalist Social gathering (BNP), to a landslide victory within the February 12 election. 

Mr. Khalilur Rahman and Mr. Kobir had been obtained by B. Shyam, Joint Secretary of the MEA’s Bangladesh-Myanmar division, and the Excessive Commissioner of Bangladesh, Riaz Hamidullah. Earlier, the MEA had introduced the journey advisory for Mr. Khalilur Rahman, informing that the go to would start on Tuesday night (April 7) and conclude on Thursday (April 9, 2026) morning.

The go to is being interpreted as particular as that is the primary time Delhi is internet hosting a Bangladesh International Minister at Hyderabad Home right here after the autumn of the Sheikh Hasina authorities on August 5, 2024. Bilateral relations had turned chilly throughout the interim authorities’s rule due to Ms. Hasina’s continued presence in India, the place she took refuge after fleeing from Dhaka, and in addition due to threats to Indian missions and visa centres.

The plans for Mr. Khalilur Rahman’s go to had been saved tightly guarded, with neither aspect having made the customary official announcement. The MEA’s advisory, issued hours earlier than the arrival of the dignitaries, described the go to as “official”, whereas sources in Dhaka have described the go to as a “transit tour”. The warning across the go to might come up primarily as a result of from the truth that India-Bangladesh ties are but to be normalised.

A lunch assembly will likely be hosted for Mr. Khalilur Rahman at Hyderabad Home on Wednesday (April 8, 2026) by Mr. Jaishankar, adopted by a gathering with Union Minister of Commerce and Business Piyush Goyal within the afternoon at Vanijya Bhavan. Later within the day, Mr. Rahman will meet Union Minister of Petroleum and Pure Gasoline Hardeep Singh Puri.

He’ll go away for Mauritius on Thursday morning (April 9), the place he’ll attend the Indian Ocean Convention being organised by the India Basis, the Authorities of Mauritius, and the MEA. The Hindu had reported earlier that the 2 sides would talk about points associated to the sharing of the waters of the river Ganga, power cooperation, and normalisation of visa processes, which have been hampering commerce and people-to-people contact. Prothom Alo, a number one Bangladesh day by day, has reported that Mr. Khalilur Rahman would elevate the necessity to finish restrictive measures that India had positioned between April-June 2025, which have an effect on Bangladesh’s attire exports to its exterior markets.