Hasan Mahmud to go to Delhi Tuesday: Will he be different?

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud due to leave for New Delhi Tuesday evening at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Dr. S Jaishankar.

Dhaka, Feb 5 --- Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud is scheduled to leave for New Delhi on Tuesday night. This will be his first bilateral visit. 

He is visiting Delhi at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Dr S Jaishankar. 

Though the Foreign Minister will go to New Delhi directly, he will return to Dhaka via Kolkata on Friday night (February 9), a senior official said on Monday.

The Foreign Minister will have a number of meetings in New Delhi apart from his bilateral meeting with Dr S Jaishankar. 

The meeting between the two foreign ministers will be held on February 7.

He is likely to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will have a separate meeting with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal during his stay in New Delhi. 

The Foreign Minister will also pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at the iconic Rajghat. He is likely to attend a seminar, too.

In Kolkata, he will attend a "meet the press" event and a reception, to be hosted by the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission. 

Earlier, Spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Seheli Sabrin, said issues of mutual interest including trade, connectivity and energy cooperation, people-to-people contacts and regional cooperation will be discussed between the two sides at the bilateral meeting to further strengthen Bangladesh-India relations.

Asked whether the Teesta water-sharing issue will be discussed in the meeting, the foreign ministry spokesperson said they expect the issue would be discussed.

“In the upcoming visit, there will be a comprehensive discussion on various issues existing between Bangladesh and India. We are also expecting discussion on the Teesta water sharing agreement,” said the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson.

Jaishankar, earlier, invited his Bangladesh counterpart Dr Hasan Mahmud to visit New Delhi at a mutually convenient time.

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma extended the invitation on behalf of the Indian External Affairs Minister.

The appointment of Hasan Mahmud to the position of Foreign Minister has created mixed reactions among knowledgeable sections in the Awami league, some indicating a mild shift in the foreign policy of the government.

Others say, his predecessor Dr. Abdul Momen was diplomatically competent for his background as a career foreign service man. But he embarrassed the government by publicly telling people at the height of the opposition movement last year that he had requested the big neighbiur to ensure the safety of the leaders. The embarrassment was so intense that he was dropped from a subsequent visit of the Prime Minister to New Delhi.

Another public statement of Dr. Abdul Momen that was viral in the social media was that the interests of the big neighbour and Bangladesh were the same and indivisible - an indication of his being a yes man to New Delhi - was also embarrassing to the government.

Insiders say the government is satisfied with the performance of Dr. Hasan Mahmud as an Environment Minister and an Information Minister and so he has been given the same ministry where he had been first inducted as a state minister way back in 2009 but transferred to the Ministry of Environment and Forests soon after. - UNB with GW Newsdesk.