Modi likely to attend Bangabandhu’s birth centenary celebration next year

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's birth centenary celebration next year, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said today.

Besides, Sonia Gandhi, interim president of Indian National Congress as well as former Indian president Pranab Mukherjee will also be present as luminaries during the celebration of birth centenary of Father of the Nation, Momen said at a discussion.

The warm relationship that has been developed between the two heads of the governments has unequivocally strengthened the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and India, said the foreign minister.

"We are hopeful that our relationship will deepen further in future," he added.

Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee organised the discussion at Poet Sufia Kamal Auditorium in the capital's National Museum on the occasion of the 48th anniversary of India's recognition to Bangladesh.

While addressing the discussion as the chief guest, the minister said Bangladesh and India are "tied with similar history, literature, culture and heritage" since the beginning of the countries' bilateral relations.

Moreover, friendship, trust and understanding between the two countries are also better at present than any time in the past, he added.

"As a result, new opportunities in the areas of cooperation and developments are beckoning," he said, adding that bilateral relations of the two countries has reached to a new height in last one decade and the current Indian PM has termed it as the "Golden Chapter".

Momen also said that Bangladesh government has taken an initiative to honour martyred Indian army personnel who embraced martyrdom during Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971.

As part of the initiative, Bangladesh government will soon hand over "honourary crests" to Indian authorities for some 380 such martyred members of the Indian army, he said.

Addressing the discussion as special guest, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das said as per her country's "neighbourhood policy" the present Indian government considers its relations with Bangladesh government as "the most important among neighbours".

"To us, neighbours come first. Among the neighbours, Bangladesh comes first," she said.

She stressed for further strengthening the present diplomatic relationship between the two countries with an aim to take it to a new height.

Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee President Shahriar Kabir said India has to play more active role in resolving the Rohingya crisis.

Besides, both Bangladesh and India should resolve other disputes among them through holding friendly discussions, he said.