New Delhi: India has proposed 21 and 22 August to Bangladesh for a state visit by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. The sense in Dhaka is that an early September visit may work better given Rahman’s own domestic commitments. Nevertheless, the two sides have begun preparations for the state visit, ThePrint has learnt.
The visit will be Rahman’s first to India since assuming power in February. The two sides are seeking a feasible date for the visit, ahead of the BRICS Summit, with the confirmation expected over the next couple of days.
Indian High Commissioner Dinesh Trivedi is returning to Dhaka Friday, and is expected to meet Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman over the weekend, to finalise Prime Minister Rahman’s visit.
Sources confirmed to ThePrint that New Delhi has proposed the above dates for a visit by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s planned visits to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan slated for the end of the month. Modi is travelling to the two Central Asian countries, and will attend the Heads of States Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek.
Bangladesh is pushing for an early September visit, given that its Presidential election is scheduled for 20 August, while the third session of the current Parliament has been called on 27 August. The two sides are continuing talks to find agreeable dates.
India had extended the invitation for a bilateral visit in February, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal confirmed at a regular press briefing Tuesday. India has also extended an invitation for Rahman to attend the BRICS Summit next month, in his capacity as chair of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).
However, Dhaka prefers a bilateral state visit, which would allow for the two governments to discuss all issues to take the relationship forward, over a meeting on the margins of a multilateral summit.
Earlier this week, India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi met with Rahman in Dhaka. The courtesy visit revolved around discussions on the “enabling environment” given to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by India to stir trouble across the border. Dhaka has been miffed with Hasina’s virtual press conference held at the Foreign Correspondents Club of South Asia in New Delhi last week.
The roughly 30-minute meeting revolved around Hasina’s press conference and Dhaka’s request for the extradition of the killers of political activist Sharif Osman Hadi. Hadi was killed in December 2025. India arrested two Bangladeshi nationals in March, accused of being behind the killing of Hadi, while the process for extradition is ongoing.
Ties between New Delhi and Dhaka cratered following the ouster of Hasina on 5 August 2024. The former Prime Minister of Bangladesh fled to India and has remained since then. The diplomatic chill continued under the interim government, which assumed power in August 2024 until the parliamentary elections held in February 2026.
Trivedi travelled to New Delhi and met with Modi, briefing the Prime Minister on the developments in Dhaka earlier this week. Hasina’s press conference has emerged as a major issue in ties between the two countries, further adding pressure to Rahman’s collaborated opening with New Delhi.
However, a flurry of visits, including by Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief Parag Jain to Dhaka earlier this week, indicates the renewed focus between New Delhi and Dhaka to continue to engage across different levels of government.
While Hasina remains a major flashpoint, Dhaka has made a number of requests to engage different bilateral mechanisms, including the resumption of the consular dialogue and negotiations over the Ganges Water Treaty, in the last few months. However, New Delhi has yet to respond to the request, with the sense remaining that a visit by Rahman to India can break the deadlock in ties.
(Edited by Tony Rai)