Bangladesh and India have resumed official-level talks to arrange Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s first visit to New Delhi, with officials looking at a possible window in November after a recent diplomatic disruption, The Hindu reported.
Officials from both countries have continued meetings in Dhaka and are working to finalise an agenda for the visit, according to diplomatic sources cited by the Indian newspaper.
The discussions are expected to include restoring normal bilateral trade after a period of political instability and the future of the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, which expires in December, alongside other bilateral issues, The Hindu report said.
The renewed negotiations follow uncertainty over the visit amid strains in relations between the neighbours since the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government in August 2024.
Dhaka reacted strongly after Hasina, who has been living in India since fleeing Bangladesh, virtually addressed an August 5 event in New Delhi. Bangladesh said allowing the event had damaged the atmosphere for a high-level visit, while India maintained that it had no role in organising it.
Tarique subsequently stayed away from the BRICS summit in New Delhi, where he had been invited in his capacity as chair of BIMSTEC.
Dhaka has indicated that Tarique’s first trip to India should instead be a standalone bilateral visit.
The latest engagement is also part of a longer effort by Tarique and the BNP to establish channels with New Delhi.
The Hindu reported that Tarique’s direct contacts with Indian officials had been renewed by at least February 2024, when he sent an emissary to India to assess New Delhi’s position following Bangladesh’s January election, which the BNP boycotted.
Those contacts built on earlier exchanges between the BNP and Indian officials while Hasina was still in power.
Two months before the January 2024 election, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, now Bangladesh’s energy minister, travelled to New Delhi and publicly urged India to support what he described as the democratic aspirations of Bangladeshis, said The Hindu report.
The BNP had made a similar outreach in 2018, when senior leaders Abdul Awal Mintoo, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and Humayun Kabir travelled to New Delhi for discussions with Indian officials.
That visit was part of an effort initiated by Tarique to recalibrate the party’s approach towards India, according to reporting cited by The Hindu.
The Ganges treaty is likely to be one of the most immediate issues confronting the two governments.
The 30-year water-sharing agreement, signed in 1996, expires in December, making its renewal or replacement a significant item on the bilateral agenda.
Trade normalisation is also expected to feature prominently after political tensions disrupted commercial ties and prompted restrictions affecting cross-border trade.
The two sides are now working to identify a suitable date and prepare the substance of the visit, according to The Hindu.
No date has yet been formally announced, but the resumption of official-level discussions signals that preparations for Tarique’s New Delhi visit are back on track after the recent disruption.
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