New Delhi: India has invited Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to the BRICS leaders’ summit to be held in the Indian national capital in September. The invitation was handed over in Dhaka last Thursday.
Bangladesh, which is not a BRICS member, was invited as a special guest in its capacity as chair of the Bay of Bengal Initiative Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). The invitation addressed to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is part of a two-fold effort by New Delhi: to indicate the stabilisation of ties while also promoting BIMSTEC.
The invitation revives New Delhi’s efforts to hold a BRICS-BIMSTEC dialogue a decade ago, when it last held a physical BRICS leaders’ summit in Goa in October 2016.
BIMSTEC consists of seven members – Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand. It is a part of New Delhi’s vision for regional connectivity and cooperation.
The organisation has been slow to institutionalise since its formation in 1997, especially as other regional organisations such as the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) had been operational. However, SAARC has remained dormant for over a decade, due to the breakdown in ties between India and Pakistan.
In its place, India has been keen to push for closer cooperation between BIMSTEC countries.
Bangladesh assumed its role as the chair of BIMSTEC in April 2025. The new government under Prime Minister Rahman has also been pushing for the revival of SAARC as his father, former President Ziaur Rahman, is said to have had a role in formulating the organisation before his assassination in 1981.
For India, BIMSTEC remains the key pillar for its regional outreach. Diplomatic sources indicated that it’s too early to say whether Prime Minister Rahman will be able to attend the New Delhi BRICS summit.
Ties between India and Bangladesh cratered following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from power in August 2024. Bangladesh’s interim government led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus between August 2024 and February 2026 took a combative stance against New Delhi.
However, since the general election in February and Rahman’s victory, India and Bangladesh have sought a calibrated approach to stabilising ties. Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalil-ur Rahman travelled to New Delhi in May and held meetings with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
More recently, Bangladesh’s Defence Adviser to the Prime Minister Brig. Gen. AKM Shamsul Islam (Retd) attended a meeting of BIMSTEC National Security Chiefs in New Delhi this month.
While ties have stabilised somewhat, the major irritant in the relationship – illegal migration – remains unresolved.
Bangladesh has taken a dim view of the promotion of “pushing-in” of suspected Bangladeshi immigrants across the border without proper process.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma first highlighted the process of rounding up suspected illegal migrants and pushing them back across the border during a media interaction in April
The renewal of the Ganges Water Treaty, which is due to expire by the end of this year, remains another major roadblock in the normalisation of ties between India and Bangladesh.
Prime Minister Rahman has made two international visits so far – Malaysia and China.
The BRICS summit is expected to be held in New Delhi by the first half of September. This is the fourth BRICS summit hosted by India, following the physical summits in 2012 and 2016, and the virtual one in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
BRICS, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia as members, following the 2023 Johannesburg Summit. This is the first time the expanded organisation is set to meet in India.