Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Tarique Rahman as Bangladesh’s new prime minister, along with other regional leaders on February 17.
The message from Dhaka reached Indian officials late on Saturday (February 14) night, just hours after top leaders of Tarique's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) suggested that regional heads would be invited to attend the ceremony.
It is unlikely that PM Modi will go to Dhaka since he is expected to hold a bilateral meeting in Mumbai with French President Emmanuel Macron on February 17, report Hindustan Times.
Macron is visiting India to participate in the AI Impact Summit next week. The summit is being described as the largest edition to date and will be the fourth annual global gathering focused on assessing the risks and opportunities linked to the rapid growth of artificial intelligence technology.
India is expected to send a senior representative to Tarique Rahman’s inauguration, possibly the vice president or the external affairs minister, the people said the HT, adding that New Delhi also does not want to appear as moving too quickly towards renewed ties with Bangladesh, even though improving relations that had dropped to a fresh low remains important.
“There is also the optics of sharing a stage with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, who is also expected to be invited to the event,” one person told HT.
Bangladesh is reported to be planning invitations for leaders from most member nations of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which was founded by Tarique Rahman’s father, former president Ziaur Rahman, as well as heads of state or government from other friendly countries such as China, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
