As India is yet to respond to Bangladesh's request for a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh's interim government's Chief Adviser Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus, a report has claimed that Yunus wanted to visit India before China but the request did not elicit a positive response.
Shafiqul Alam, Press Secretary to Yunus, said Dhaka showed interest in Yunus's visit in December itself, much ahead of Yunus's slated China visit, which is slated to happen on Wednesday. "Unfortunately, we didn’t receive a positive response," Alam told The Hindu.
Yunus's visit is highly anticipated in China as Dhaka hopes to attract investors and convey the message that Bangladesh is open to Chinese entrepreneurs opening factories in the country.
Meanwhile, Dhaka has insisted on a Modi-Yunus meeting again as India says it is considering Bangladesh's request for a meeting at the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit to be held next month. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar indicated that Modi may attend the BIMSTEC Summit but remained non-committal about the meeting with Yunus.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, continues to insist on the meeting. Foreign Secretary Md Jasim Uddin told reporters on Tuesday that Dhaka was waiting for a reply. "Bangladesh is prepared for a meeting between Dr. Muhammad Yunus and Narendra Modi. Dhaka is waiting for a positive response from India. We can say on our part that we are ready for the meeting. We are waiting for India’s response," he said.
He added that Dhaka hoped the meeting would end the stalemate in the relationships between the two countries. "We are considering this meeting quite seriously given the situation of the bilateral relationships between the two countries," he added.
Yunus had recently said in an interview that Bangladesh had no option but to stay on good terms with India. He, however, agreed that propaganda has triggered "some conflicts" between them. "There has been no deterioration, our relations will always be good. They are good now and they will be good in future. There is no other way but to have good relations between Bangladesh and India," he told BBC Bangla in an interview.