In reset of bilateral ties, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister expected to visit India in April

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman is expected to visit India in the first week of April, diplomatic sources have confirmed. The visit will be the first high-level outreach from Bangladesh since its Prime Minister Tarique Rahman came to power after leading the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to a landslide victory in the February 12 election. The visit is expected to restart bilateral ties that had turned cold during the 15-month-long tenure of the interim government.

Mr. Khalilur Rahman is expected to hold bilateral meetings in New Delhi and then proceed to Mauritius where he will attend the Indian Ocean Conference being organised by the Mauritius government. The visit is likely to be dominated by Bangladesh’s energy scenario that has become serious because of the ongoing war in West Asia and the resultant crisis in the global energy market.

India has supplied a consignment of high-speed diesel to Bangladesh on March 10, with sources indicating that Bangladesh has an urgent requirement for diesel and other petroleum products, as the country has been rationing fuel to deal with the crisis.

The two sides are also expected to revive the issue of renewing the Ganga Waters Treaty, which will turn 30 in December this year. Mr. Khalilur Rahman was the National Security Adviser of the interim government led by Prof. Mohammed Yunus and had visited India in November 2025 when he had met NSA Ajit Doval in the national capital.

Mutual bonhomie

Both the countries had been exchanging comments in keeping with the spirit of mutual understanding. On March 25 marking the anniversary of the infamous Operation Searchlight of 1971 by the Pakistan military that left millions of citizens of Bangladesh dead, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman had paid tribute to the victims of the Pakistani military’s atrocities. “They indiscriminately opened fire on teachers, intellectuals and innocent civilians at various places, including Dhaka University, Pilkhana and Rajarbagh Police Lines, killing many people,” the Bangladesh PM said on Thursday.

Following his remarks, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday (March 27, 2026) said that Operation Searchlight and the resultant violence in its aftermath in 1971, led to the “murder of millions of innocent Bangladeshi people and mass sexual crimes against women”.

“These atrocities shook the conscience of the world. Pakistan, however, remains in denial to this very day of its crimes. We support Bangladesh in its desire for justice,” MEA official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said adding that “India supports Bangladesh’s desire for justice”.

In keeping with the positive momentum in ties, India had sent Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri as representatives of the Indian government at the swearing-in ceremony of PM Tarique Rahman on February 17. That optimism was visible also on March 26 when the High Commission of Bangladesh hosted a gala dinner on its premises on the occasion of Bangladesh’s Independence Day, that was attended by Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and other senior officials, including MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.