The “touchy issues” of the land border agreement and the Teesta river water settlement will be prominent on the agenda as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj lands in Dhaka on Wednesday for her first solo visit abroad after being sworn in.
Ms. Swaraj will be in Bangladesh for a three-day trip where she will meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, who has said the visit will “open a new era” in India-Bangladesh ties.
No agreements are expected to be signed as the two sides hold talks as Ms. Swaraj is on a “goodwill visit.” Those familiar with the preparations said the trip would see “the first initial contacts between the two governments, and an occasion to convey their thoughts on the future of the relationship.”
Ms. Hasina was the notable absentee among SAARC leaders at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oath-taking ceremony as she was on a bilateral visit to Japan at the time. Bangladeshi officials made it clear in the run-up to the visit that they would like to speak about the possibility of signing the Teesta river water agreement.
