India, Bangladesh share ‘warm and historic ties’: MEA

The Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman arrived here on Tuesday (April 7, 2026). This is the first high-level bilateral visit from Bangladesh in more than a year, although Mr. Rahman, who was National Security Advisor in the interim government of that country, had travelled to Delhi in November 2025 for a regional meeting. Mr. Khalilur Rahman met India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval for dinner on Tuesday (April 7) in a start to his official interactions. During his stay here, from April 7 to April 9, Mr. Rahman is expected to hold several other meetings with top officials of the Indian government, including his counterpart, Union External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. “India and Bangladesh share warm and historic ties anchored in strong people-to-people relations. The visit will further bolster India-Bangladesh partnership,” the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Randhir Jaiswal said, welcoming Mr. Khalilur Rahman, who is accompanied by Humayun Kobir, Foreign Affairs Advisor to Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. Mr. Tarique Rahman was sworn to power on February 17 after he led his party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), to a landslide victory in the February 12 election. Mr. Khalilur Rahman and Mr. Kobir were received by B. Shyam, Joint Secretary of the MEA’s Bangladesh-Myanmar division, and the High Commissioner of Bangladesh, Riaz Hamidullah. Earlier, the MEA had announced the travel advisory for Mr. Khalilur Rahman, informing that the visit would begin on Tuesday evening (April 7) and conclude on Thursday (April 9, 2026) morning. The visit is being interpreted as special as this is the first time Delhi is hosting a Bangladesh Foreign Minister at Hyderabad House here after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5, 2024. Bilateral relations had turned cold during the interim government’s rule because of Ms. Hasina’s continued presence in India, where she took refuge after fleeing from Dhaka, and also because of threats to Indian missions and visa centres. The plans for Mr. Khalilur Rahman’s visit were kept tightly guarded, with neither side having made the customary official announcement. The MEA’s advisory, issued hours before the arrival of the dignitaries, described the visit as “official”, whereas sources in Dhaka have described the visit as a “transit tour”. The caution around the visit could arise mainly because from the fact that India-Bangladesh ties are yet to be normalised. A lunch meeting will be hosted for Mr. Khalilur Rahman at Hyderabad House on Wednesday (April 8, 2026) by Mr. Jaishankar, followed by a meeting with Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal in the afternoon at Vanijya Bhavan. Later in the day, Mr. Rahman will meet Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri. He will leave for Mauritius on Thursday morning (April 9), where he will attend the Indian Ocean Conference being organised by the India Foundation, the Government of Mauritius, and the MEA. The Hindu had reported earlier that the two sides would discuss issues related to the sharing of the waters of the river Ganga, energy cooperation, and normalisation of visa processes, which have been hampering trade and people-to-people contact. Prothom Alo, a leading Bangladesh daily, has reported that Mr. Khalilur Rahman would raise the need to end restrictive measures that India had placed between April-June 2025, which affect Bangladesh’s apparel exports to its external markets. The story was written by Kallol Bhattacherjee.