Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque will fly to New Delhi tomorrow on a four-day visit in his first trip to the neighbouring country.
“This is a goodwill return visit. I will fly on Wednesday and meet with my Indian counterpart and other secretaries,” Shahidul told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
He said all issues including Teesta, Land Boundary Agreement, border killings and river-linking project would be discussed during the visit.
Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh visited Dhaka in December last year on a bilateral trip, just before the national election.
In the last 15 months as a secretary, Shahidul visited the US three times, Beijing twice and also had one foreign office consultation with the Chinese foreign secretary, and had a foreign office consultation with Myanmar in Nay Pyi Taw. During the same period, two Indian foreign secretaries – Ranjan Mathai and Sujatha – visited Dhaka.
During the period of Awami League-led government, relationship between Bangladesh and India has reached a new height with back-to-back summit meetings in 2010 in New Delhi and 2011 in Dhaka.
“The foreign secretary-level meeting will be a preparatory meeting for the third joint consultative commission between the foreign ministers of the two countries,” said an official of the foreign ministry.
Ranjan Mathai visited Dhaka in February last year when the second JCC was held.
“We will also raise flags on water issues, including sharing of Teesta water and river-linking project,” the official said.
Water flow from Teesta dropped to one-third compared to the regular flow during the last three months. “Bangladesh has sent letters expressing its concern,” Joint River Commission Member Mir Sajjad Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune.
New Delhi has undertaken a massive river-linking project to divert water from some of the joint rivers to dry areas of India, causing serious concern in Bangladesh.