New Delhi: Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman is set to visit New Delhi and hold meetings with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on 7 April, before travelling to Mauritius and likely to Pakistan.
Sources confirmed to ThePrint that Rahman, who was a surprise inclusion in Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s cabinet as foreign minister, is likely to make his maiden visit to India in his current role on 7 April. The visit comes as New Delhi and Dhaka continue to work on revitalising ties, following tensions over the past 18 months.
The sense in New Delhi is that Rahman is likely to travel to Islamabad on his way back from Mauritius, as Dhaka looks to maintain a delicate balance on ties in the region, given its own domestic compulsions. The visit to Mauritius from New Delhi ensures that the visit to India is not hyphenated with Pakistan.
Ties between India and Bangladesh cratered during the tenure of the interim government led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus between August 2024 and February 2026. Yunus and his Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain never visited India during this period. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Yunus in April 2025 on the margins of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) summit in the Thai capital of Bangkok.
However, Modi and Prime Minister Rahman are looking to carefully recalibrate ties. The Indian Prime Minister had sent a letter to the new Bangladeshi Prime Minister in February, through Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla. The Bangladeshi Prime Minister had responded to Modi’s letter at the end of last month laying out his vision to take forward ties between the two countries based on equality and mutual trust.
Foreign Minister Rahman’s visit is set to build on a visit by Bangladesh’s Director General of Forces Intelligence Major General Kaisar Rashid Chowdhury to New Delhi earlier this month when he met with Parag Jain, chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), as well as his counterpart Lieutenant General R. S. Raman, which was first reported by ThePrint.
Rahman had earlier been the National Security Adviser in Yunus’ interim government and had travelled to India for the Colombo Security Conclave at the end of last year. Rahman and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval were the two main individuals maintaining open communication channels during Yunus’ tenure in power.
Diplomatic sources indicated that Rahman’s meeting with Jaishankar is expected to be held in the evening of 7 April. There has been no word yet on the visit of Bangladesh’s new Prime Minister to India. However, it is unlikely that his first foreign visit would be to India.
In Bangladesh’s domestic polity, sources say India remains a challenging issue given the perception that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was too close to India. Hasina was ousted from power in August 2024 and fled Dhaka for New Delhi, following anti-quota demonstrations led by students in Bangladesh. However, India remains an important partner for Dhaka, given the historical, economic and geographical ties between the two countries.
In view of the challenges Dhaka is facing now on sourcing diesel, India has sent around 5,000 tonnes of diesel to Bangladesh through the existing friendship pipeline. Discussions are on for more export of diesel to Dhaka in the near future. However, both New Delhi and Dhaka have a lot of issues to unpack, from the economic tariffs and measures taken in the last 18 months that have impacted trade between the two countries to negotiations over the Ganges Water Treaty that is set to expire in December 2026.
From New Delhi, Rahman is set to travel to Mauritius to attend the Indian Ocean Conference organised by the India Foundation and the government of Mauritius. The conference is scheduled to be held between 10 April and 12 April.
Sources indicated that from Mauritius, Rahman is likely to make a brief visit to Islamabad as well. Under the Yunus interim regime, Dhaka had taken steps to deepen ties with Pakistan. Dhaka and Islamabad have had a complicated relationship due to the eventual liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971. However, in the last year, a number of senior Pakistani leaders including Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar made a visit to Bangladesh.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)