S Jaishankar Sunday met the Bangladesh foreign adviser, Touhid Hossain, to discuss bilateral issues. Bangladesh has requested India to consider a meeting of the SAARC Standing Committee. The talks are the first high-level engagement between the 2 countries since US President Donald Trump’s return. It comes ahead of a possible meeting between PM Narendra Modi and Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus on the margins of the BIMSTEC summit in Thailand on April 3-4. Both leaders are likely to attend the summit in person. Modi had discussed concerns related to Bangladesh in the meeting with Trump last week. Bangladesh will officially take over as the Chair of the group from Thailand at the summit. “As the chair, Bangladesh will have the opportunity to take initiatives for cooperation in different sectors by working together in tandem with all the member states,” said BIMstEC Secretary-General I M Pandey last week, adding that the political changes in the country had not diluted Dhaka”s support for the group.
