Representatives from several countries, including the Prime Minister of Bhutan, the Foreign Ministers of Nepal and the Maldives, are coming to Dhaka to participate in the swearing-in ceremony of the new cabinet of Bangladesh. This information was confirmed by relevant diplomatic sources on Sunday. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for February 17.
However, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be attending the event. Although he will not be able to come to Dhaka due to an important international conference in India, it is reported that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar may participate as the country’s representative.
There are also indications that Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif may attend the event at the invitation of the Bangladesh government. Representatives from China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Malaysia, Brunei, Sri Lanka and SAARC countries have also been invited.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is set to form the government after winning an absolute majority in the 13th parliamentary elections . After the election, Narendra Modi called the party’s chairman Tarique Rahman to congratulate him, which diplomatic analysts see as a sign of a new chapter in India-Bangladesh relations.