India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has arrived by a special flight in Dhaka on Wednesday night on a three-day goodwill visit at the invitation of her Bangladeshi counterpart, Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali.
This is the Sushma's first foreign trip since assuming office last month as the newly-elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign minister, following Bharatiya Janata Party's landslide victory in the Indian general elections.
“Nothing substantial will happen during the visit, but this trip will be the foundation of future relationship between the two new governments,” said a senior official at the foreign ministry in Dhaka.
Sushma and Mahmood Ali will hold official talks at the foreign ministry on Thursday.
Bangladesh was expected to place a water-sharing deal, ratification of a land boundary treaty and border killings for discussion at the talks, another official said.
“She will also deliver a lecture on Bangladesh-India relationship, arranged by BIISS Thursday night,” the official added.
Sushma will also call on President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday.
Under the outreach initiative of the BJP government, Sushma will make a courtesy call on BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Friday morning.
Khaleda Zia's press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan Sohel made the disclosure at a press conference on Tuesday night.
The Indian minister will meet opposition leader Rawshan Ershad and two advisers of the prime minister, Gowher Rizvi and Mashiur Rahman, on Friday morning.
An agreement for sharing the waters of the common Teesta river was supposed to be signed during the visit of former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Dhaka in 2011, but was not inked due to strong resistance from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
A land boundary agreement was signed in 1974.
Bangladesh ratified the treaty the same year, but India is yet to do so. Former Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid placed a bill in parliament to amend India's constitution to pave the way for the ratification, but it is yet to be passed.
During election campaigning, the BJP had strongly opposed any move to hurriedly settle border disputes with Bangladesh.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Tariq A Karim met Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati last week ahead of Sushma's visit, the officials said.