President Ram Nath Kovind may visit Dhaka in December for Vijay Diwas celebrations

President Ram Nath Kovind is expected to visit Dhaka around December 16-17 to take part in the Vijay Diwas celebrations coinciding with 50 years of the Indo-Pak war and the Liberation War that created Bangladesh.

If Kovind undertakes the visit, it will be his maiden trip abroad since the pandemic and the second big visit from Delhi to Dhaka this year. The details of the visit are being fine-tuned, ET has learnt.

Kovind's visit, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's trip to Dhaka in March, will further expand ties between Bangladesh and India across sectors -- from defence to connectivity to trade and investments. India has relaunched vaccine exports to Bangladesh to combat Covid-19.


In March, Modi visited Dhaka to celebrate 'Mujib Borsho', the birth centenary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the golden jubilee of diplomatic ties between India and Bangladesh, and the 50th year of the Bangladesh Liberation War.

The visit, which was the Modi's maiden foreign visit since the pandemic, expanded bilateral security and connectivity partnership.

India and Bangladesh, during Modi's visit, decided to explore sub-regional connectivity initiatives that could not only lead to higher volumes of trade between eastern and north-eastern India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, but also strengthen the Indo-Pacific construct.

At their bilateral Summit in Dhaka in March, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina requested her Indian counterpart for additional road and railway connectivity links to Nepal as well as rail links to Bhutan via India. Modi, on his part, sought cooperation in establishing connectivity between Guwahati and Chattogram Port that would boost Assam's connectivity with the Asean and beyond.

India also decided to expand its participation in Bangladesh's Roopur nuclear power plant.