Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his interest to visit Bangladesh as soon as a letter to this end was handed over to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday.
Visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar handed over the letter when he paid a courtesy call on the prime minister at her Jatiya Sangsad Office in the capital this evening.
After the meeting, PM's Press Secretary AKM Shameem Chowdhuri briefed reporters.
"I am eagerly waiting to visit Bangladesh soon," Modi mentioned in the letter, the press secretary said.
In this connection, the prime minister wanted to know from the Indian foreign secretary when the Indian prime minister would pay a visit to Bangladesh. "We are eagerly waiting to welcome him in Bangladesh," Sheikh Hasina said.
In reply, the Indian foreign secretary responded positively, the press secretary said.
He said the Indian premier reiterated his invitation to his Bangladesh counterpart to visit Bangladesh.
The press secretary said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Indian foreign secretary discussed issues relating to bilateral interests.
The Indian foreign secretary said New Delhi is going to ink two agreements soon with Dhaka for further boosting bilateral trade and commerce between the two neigbouring countries.
"We will sign two deals – The Protocol on Trade and The Agreement on Coastal Shipping – with Bangladesh soon," he said.
The prime minister recalled her talks with the Indian premier in New York and Kathmandu. "We agreed on many issues in the talks and I hope those will be implemented," she said.
The prime minister and the Indian foreign secretary discussed the projects being implemented under the Indian Line of Credit (LoC) and expressed satisfaction over the progress of these projects.
