Foreign Secretary of India Vinay Kwatra is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on Tuesday (tomorrow) for a two-day official visit to hold comprehensive discussion on the entire range of multifaceted cooperation between the two countries including  trade, water sharing, border management, security, connectivity and projects being implemented under Indian Line of Credit.

He will be coming to Dhaka from Kathmandu ending his two-day visit in Nepal, at the invitation of the Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Masud Bin Momen, to hold Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) on Wednesday (Feb 15).

This will be the first visit of the India Foreign Secretary to Bangladesh since he assumed charge as Foreign Secretary on May 1, 2022.

Foreign Ministry sources said the two countries have various issues of bilateral relationship, including Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and of course upcoming G-20 summit.

They said the visit of the Indian Foreign Secretary is also taking place in keeping with the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two countries and the priority India attaches to its relations with Bangladesh under its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.

During the visit, the two Foreign Secretaries will hold discussions on the entire range of multifaceted cooperation between India and Bangladesh.

Kwatra is expected to call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen separately when he will also have discussion on the preparations for the upcoming G20 summit, which will be held in Delhi on September 9-10.

The Bangladesh Prime Minister is expected to attend the 18th Group of Twenty (G20) Summit at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She is the only South Asian leader invited by India to the summit of the world's most powerful economies.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen will also visit New Delhi on March 1-2 to attend the G-20 Foreign Minister's meeting. 

India, which holds the presidency of the G20 from 1 December 2022 to November 30, 2023, invited Bangladesh as a "guest country" in its all meetings.  Bangladesh sees its series of engagements with the G20 under India's presidency this year as a "big honour".

"My office will be able to tell you about the Indian Foreign Secretary's visit schedule, but we have various issues of bilateral relationship, including Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and of course G-20 summit," Foreign Minister Momen told this correspondent last night.

"India has invited us to attend the G-20 summit and we are honoured for this. India wants to be the voice of the global south and wants to take us onboard. We are very happy," he said.

The Group of Twenty is an economic cooperation which was formed on September 26 in 1999. The G20 cooperation has 20 members -- the European Union (EU) and 19 other countries.

The G20 members include Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Republic of Korea, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, the US, the UK, the EU and Turkey. They cover more than 75 percent of global trade, 80 percent of the world's GDP and more than 60 percent of the planet's population.

The main agenda of the G20 is to ensure global financial stability and sustain sovereign debt.