India’s new External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will visit Bangladesh from June 25 to June 27, her ministry has announced. She will make “a goodwill visit” at the invitation of her Bangladesh counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali. New Delhi says this is her first “stand-alone” visit abroad as the External Affairs Minister and it reflects “the importance that India attaches to its bilateral relationship with Bangladesh, a close friend and neighbour”. Earlier, she accompanied Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his Bhutan tour. Swaraj will hold discussions on bilateral issues with Mahmood Ali. She will also call on the President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The minister will also have engagement with think-tanks, chambers of commerce and industry, and cultural organisations. The Ministry of External Affairs says the visit will provide “further momentum to the close and friendly relationship between India and Bangladesh”. An advocate by training, Swaraj has been elected seven times as a Member of Parliament and three times as a Member of the Legislative Assembly. She began her political career with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in the 1970s and became a member of the Haryana Legislative Assembly and a Cabinet Minister in Haryana at the age of 25 in 1977 and held seven portfolios. She became State President of Janata Party (Haryana) in 1979, when she was 27. Swaraj in her colourful political career also served as the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Minister for Health and Family Welfare and Parliamentary Affairs. She has been the Leader of the Opposition in the 15th Lok Sabha when Dhaka-Delhi relations have been described to be “the best” in history. But during Modi’s elections campaign there had been scepticism about the prospect of relations once he became prime minister. He, however, sent a strong message of maintaining and building relations with Dhaka when Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury met him in New Delhi after the swearing-in ceremony. Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka Pankaj Saran also said Delhi’s approach towards Dhaka in the coming months would be “largely problem solving”. He had said the new government was also committed “to maintaining and building upon the momentum of the relationship”. Saran said Modi’s comment to Bangladesh’s Speaker was “significant” and he told the Speaker straightaway that “I am going to do what has been done and I am also going to build upon it”. It raised the hope that the pending issues of Teesta water sharing and land boundary ratification would be resolved soon. – Source : bdnews24.com
