DHAKA: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Dhaka in March, competent source of Foreign Ministry said.

Before the visit, the issue of Land Boundary Agreement will be finalized, the source added.

Foreign Secretary Shahidul Hoque said, “We hoped that Indian prime minster will visit Bangladesh in first quarter of this year. But it is now in discussion level.”

If Indian Parliament ratifies the land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh in its winter session then Modi’s Dhaka tour will become easy, he added.

According to report published in Indian media, Modi has already taken an initiative to push for Parliamentary approval of the Land Boundary Agreement between India and Bangladesh. 

After assuming power, the Indian PM is keen to visit Dhaka and would do so at an early date next year. PM Hasina also sent invitation in appropriate time. So the tour is now a matter of time, said the foreign secretary.
 
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina invited Modi soon after he became the prime minister designate, following his Bharatiya Janata Party's victory in the Lok Sabha polls.

Later, a statement from Modi's office said the prime minister has accepted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's invitation to visit Dhaka.

In a letter handed over to the Bangladesh prime minister by visiting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Modi also has extended an invitation to Sheikh Hasina to visit India at her earliest convenience.

Modi has told Hasina that for India, Bangladesh is "not merely a neighbour, but a nation with which we share history, culture, civilization, and enduring links between people".

Besides, Chief Minister (CM) of West Bengal, a province of neighboring India, Mamata Banerjee will undertake a three-day visit to Dhaka from February 19 to February 21 at an invitation of Bangladesh government.

Mamata will attend the programme of ‘Mother Language Day’ in Bangladesh.

This will be the first Bangladesh visit of Mamata Banerjee since her taking over the office of the CM of West Bengal in May 2011.

Concerned officials expected that the tour will help to reduce the gap between Bangladesh and Mamata created over Teesta Water Sharing and Land Boundary agreements.

Under the LBA, India has to exchange 111 enclaves measuring 17,160 acres with Bangladesh and receive 51 enclaves covering 7,110 acres. Almost 51,000 people reside in these enclaves. The territories involved in the exchange are in the states of Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Tripura.

BDST: 1458 HRS, JAN 10, 2015