Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale in city

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DHAKA, April 8, 2018 (BSS)-Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale arrived in the city this afternoon on a three-day official visit to Bangladesh.

Foreign Secretary M. Shahidul Haque received his Indian counterpart at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at around 4.30 pm, foreign ministry sources said.

Gokhale is coming to Bangladesh to finalise the schedule of the meeting between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Commonwealth Summit in London, diplomatic sources said.

The meeting between the two prime ministers is likely to be held on April 19 or 20 on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London.

During the meeting, they will discuss a wide range of bilateral and regional issues and review the implementation of the 62-point joint statement issued during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s India visit in April 2017, the sources said.

Gokhale will call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and also hold a bilateral meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart.

He will also meet think-tank representatives with whom he is expected to hold a closed-door session this evening. The Indian dignitary will hold a bilateral meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart at the State Guesthouse Meghna tomorrow morning.

The meeting will be followed by signing of some memorandums of understanding (MoUs), mostly on development and cooperation programmes, and he will make a press statement at 12 noon.

Gokhale is scheduled to attend a Bilateral Conclave on India-Bangladesh Relations: “Deepening Cooperation and the Way Ahead” organised by the Institute for Policy, Advocacy and Governance tomorrow afternoon.