NEW DELHI, Feb 7, 2024 (BSS) - Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar welcomed Bangladesh foreign Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud as he reached the historic Hyderabad House here this evening for holding bilateral meeting with his Indian counterpart.

"Welcome to India, FM Dr. Hasan Mahmud of Bangladesh...Our discussions today will strengthen India -Bangladesh Maitri," Jaishankar posted on the "X" previously Tweeter prior to the meeting.

Later, the two ministers held delegation-level meeting when they reviewed progress in wide-ranging areas of bilateral relations including cross-border connectivity, economic and development partnership, cooperation in defence and security, power, energy, water resources and people-to-people exchanges. 

They also discussed areas of future engagement in line with the national development goals of the two countries including the visions of "Viksit Bharat 2047" and "Smart Bangladesh 2041", according to a statement issued by Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) here.

The statement said that the two leaders also exchanged views on regional and multilateral issues of common interest and expressed commitment to further enhance their collaboration to promote sub-regional cooperation within the framework of BIMSTEC, IORA and BBIN.

The Bangladesh foreign minister is now in New Delhi on a three-day official visit at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Dr. S. Jaishankar.

This is Hasan's first official visit to India and his first bilateral visit to any country after assuming office as the new foreign minister of Bangladesh in January 2024.

The visit of foreign minister of Bangladesh to India is part of the on-going high-level exchanges between the two countries and has enabled both sides to chart out the course of their forward-looking engagement during the new term of the government in Bangladesh, the statement said.
 
The visit follows the bilateral meeting between the two Foreign Ministers on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit held in Uganda last month and has contributed to further strengthening of the traditional, long-standing friendship and cooperation between the two countries, it added.

Earlier, Bangladesh foreign minister visited Rajghat to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi. He also held meeting with the National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval.

During the visit, Dr. Hasan will call on the President of India and hold a meeting with Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, it added.
 
The Bangladesh foreign minister will travel to Kolkata on Friday (February 9) before concluding his visit.