Natwar Singh arrives Aug 6
Staff Correspondent
Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh will arrive in Dhaka on August 6 on a two-day official visit at the invitation of his Bangladesh counterpart M Morshed Khan, a highly placed source at the foreign ministry said.This will be the first ministerial-level visit from India after the Congress-led alliance assumed power. The source said that entire range of bilateral issues would come up for discussion during official talks between Morshed Khan and Natwar Singh. Besides, vital issues relating to the Saarc summit in Dhaka, scheduled for November, and proposed UN Security Council reforms may also come up prominently during the official talks. Singh's visit is taking place on the heels of Indo-Bangla foreign secretary level meeting held in New Delhi in June that practically started melting the ice of bilateral relations between the two next-door neighbours. Foreign ministry officials said the visit of the Indian external affairs minister will lead to a number of ministerial visits from India, including that of Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and Water Resources Minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi to lead the Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) meeting in October in Dhaka. Besides, the Indo-Bangla Joint Working Group meeting on trade will be held in Dhaka on August 1-2 for deliberations on entire gamut of bilateral trade, including trade imbalance, bilateral FTA and review of the trade agreement.
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