INDIA Remains Pledged to Strengthen Relations with Bangladesh: PM Modi

PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reaffirmed India’s commitment to work with Bangladesh to strengthen relations in socio-economic spheres. PM Modi assured Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Minister AK Abdul Momen who called on him in New Delhi. Modi said that India-Bangladesh relations have been on an upward trajectory in the last few years, according to a release by the Prime Minister’s Office. He also reaffirmed India’s commitment to work with Bangladesh to build on this momentum with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina. Modi complimented Momen on his appointment as the Foreign Minister and appreciated his gesture of selecting India as the destination for his first foreign visit. Bangladesh is expected to seek India’s support for an early resolution to the Rohingya crisis. Momen is in India to participate in the fifth India-Bangladesh Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) on Friday. The last JCC meet was held in October 2017 in Dhaka. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj represented India .Momen is also scheduled to meet former President Pranab Mukherjee before returning home. Incidentally, the ex President’s deceased spouse Suvra hailed from erstwhile East Bengal which is now called Bangladesh. Momen has been appointed as Foreign Minister after Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League came into power following a landslide victory in the 11th parliamentary elections held on December 30 last year. Seventy-one years old Momen who has been elected from Sylhet 1, is an economist turned politician.