Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will reach Agartala on Wednesday afternoon on a two day visit to Tripura. During her visit, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh would be conferred a honorary Doctorate by Vice President Hamid Ansari at the 9th Convocation of Tripura University on Thursday.
Union Minister of Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal would also be present on the occasion. The Bangladesh Prime Minister is also scheduled to inaugurate an open air theatre and unveil a statue of the Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore in the university campus.
During her stay in Agartala, the Bangladesh Prime Minister will call on Vice President Hamid Ansari and also hold discussions with Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar. She will also address a Joint Meeting of businesspersons of the two countries being organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry in Agartala. The state government is also making arrangements to host a special civic reception in the city to honour the visiting Bangladesh Prime Minister on Thursday afternoon following which she will return to Dhaka.
The visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Tripura comes just a few months after the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Dhaka in September last year. This is the first visit of any Bangladesh Prime Minister to Tripura which provided shelter and relief to nearly 1.6 million refugees during the country's liberation war. The comprehensive “Framework Agreement on Cooperation for
Development” signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka outlines a shared vision for durable and long-term cooperation between the two countries which includes strengthening regional connectivity especially to the North eastern states of India.
The two sides are engaged in the process of commencing movement of bulk cargo to Tripura using multimodal facilities through Ashuganj port. In addition to this steps are also being taken towards development of railway infrastructure at the border point to connect Agartala and Akhaura.
The visit of the Bangladesh Prime Minister to Tripura is expected to further enhance trade and economic relations in addition to strengthening people-to-people links between the two countries.
