Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman is expected to visit India next week, according to multiple media reports.
The visit will be the first official visit by a senior politician from Bangladesh since Prime Minister Tarique Rahman came to power after leading the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to a landslide victory in the February 12 election.
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The visit, which comes at a time when the two sides are rebuilding relations after tensions witnessed under the leadership of Nobel laureate Mohammed Yunus, is expected to restore bilateral ties between the two neighboring nations.
What’s on the agenda
Rahman is expected to hold a bilateral meeting in New Delhi and then proceed to Mauritius to attend the Indian Ocean Conference hosted by the Mauritian government, The Hindu reported.
Rahman is expected to meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on April 8, a report in the Hindustan Times said.
The visit will focus on Bangladesh’s deteriorating energy scenario amid the ongoing war in West Asia and the resulting crisis in the global energy market.
On March 10, India delivered a shipment of high-speed diesel to Bangladesh amid reports of an urgent demand for diesel and other petroleum products. The two sides are also expected to revive the recovery issue Treaty on the Ganges Waterswho will turn 30 this December, the report said.
In recent weeks, the focus has been on renewing the three-decade-old Ganges water-sharing treaty, signed in December 1996. Rahman was the national security adviser to the Yunus-led interim government. In November 2025, he visited India and met NSA Ajit Doval in New Delhi.
India Bangladesh ties
Ties between Delhi and Dhaka deteriorated further after the 2024 ouster of Sheikh Hasina and subsequent violence against Hindus, a substantial minority in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.
New Delhi feared that Hasina’s removal from power created a space for groups hostile to India, amid rising anti-India rhetoric and violence in Bangladesh, according to experts on Politics of South Asia.
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In January 2025, the lynching and public burning of 25-year-old Hindu Dipu Chandra Das in Bangladesh sparked protests in India in Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad and other cities calling for minority protection and strong diplomatic action.
But lately the two neighbors have been exchanging comments in a spirit of mutual understanding. Prime minister Narendra Modi he was among the first global leaders to congratulate Tarique Rahman after the BNP’s victory. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla attended the swearing-in on 17 February.
On March 25, on the occasion of the anniversary of the infamous Operation searchlight of 1971 by the Pakistan Army, which claimed the lives of millions of Bangladeshi citizens, Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman paid tribute to the victims of the atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army.
India supports Bangladesh’s desire for justice.
After his remarks, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MEA) on 27 March 2026 stated that Operation Searchlight and the subsequent violence in 1971 led to the “murder of millions of innocent Bangladeshi people and mass sexual crimes against women”.
“These atrocities have shocked the conscience of the world. However, Pakistan still denies 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”.
