BD-India FS level meeting today

The foreign secretaries of India and Bangladesh are scheduled to hold a meeting at the state guest houses -- Padma and Meghna -- today (Monday).
They are expected to discuss the whole range of bilateral issues during the official talks.
However, issues concerning Rohingya influx and Teesta water sharing are likely to figure prominently at the bilateral discussion.
Indian foreign secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale arrived in the city at 4.30 pm Sunday on a two-day visit.
His Bangladeshi counterpart foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque received him at the Shahjalal International airport.
Gokhale was appointed foreign secretary of India in January this year.
After the bilateral meeting the two foreign secretaries will sign a number of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on different bilateral issues, officials said.
The top Indian diplomat is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and foreign minister A H Mahmood Ali during his stay in Dhaka.
The Indian Foreign Secretary will attend an event on bilateral conclave on 'India-Bangladesh Relations: Deepening Cooperation and the Way Ahead' to be organised by the Institute of Policy, Advocacy and Governance (IPAG) on Monday afternoon at a city hotel with Prime Minister's International Affairs Adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi being present as the chief guest.
Both the foreign secretaries will have a comprehensive review of relations.
Sources at the Foreign Ministry said the two secretaries might discuss the possibilities of a meeting between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018 (CHOGM) that will be held in London and Windsor on April 16-20.
They might also discuss some upcoming visits including that of Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh's Dhaka tour.
Gokhale is likely to raise issues like Bangladesh's growing engagement with China, steps to ramp up civil nuclear cooperation and the fight against terrorism during the meeting.
On March 1, India, Russia and Bangladesh had signed a trilateral deal on civil nuclear cooperation, said Indian media reports.
It is learnt that the US state department has recently urged India to play a proactive role in resolving the Rohingya crisis apparently in a bid to counter China's prominent role in mediating between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
A 1981-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Gokhale is considered an expert on China and had played a key role in negotiations to resolve the 73-day-long Doklam standoff between Indian and Chinese armies last year.
He was India's Ambassador to China from January 20, 2016 to October 21, 2017, before moving back to the MEA headquarters in India.

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