Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury will represent Bangladesh at the swearing in ceremony of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister on May 26.

India, earlier invited Prime Minister Hasina along with the heads of governments in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations to attend the ceremony.

A foreign ministry spokesman told PTI in Dhaka that the Bangaladesh Prime Minister could not join the ceremony as she would leave Dhaka for Tokyo on a four-day visit on May 24. The spokesperson added that the Prime Minister designate had also invited Hasina for a courtesy meeting after the ceremony.

There is no precedent for inviting foreign heads of government when an Indian prime minister has been sworn in but Modi's gesture appears to be a signal that he would run a neighbour-friendly government.