Dhaka: The Bangladesh government is yet to convey its formal acceptance of India’s invitation to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to attend the Brics Summit, which is scheduled to be held next month. This comes at a time when there has been a strain in bilateral relations, people familiar with the matter told HT.
Rahman was invited to the Brics Summit, which will be held between September 12 and 13 in New Delhi. India’s envoy Dinesh Trivedi has reportedly reiterated the invitation at a meeting with Rahman in Dhaka on August 10.
India has also invited the leaders of Bahrain, the chair of the Gulf Cooperation Council; Burundi, the chair of the African Union; the Philippines, the chair of Asean; and Uruguay, the chair of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), for the outreach session of the Brics Summit.
The invitation to Rahman was extended through a letter sent by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the time of his swearing-in in February, HT reported.
Bangladesh’s Prothom Alo newspaper had reported that it was ‘almost certain’ the Bangladesh Prime Minister would not attend the Brics Summit. It claimed that there had been “fresh tensions” in bilateral ties after former PM Sheikh Hasina addressed a virtual news conference from New Delhi on August 5.
At the meeting between Rahman and Trivedi, the Bangladesh had urged India to expedite the extradition of Hasina.
The former PM has lived in India since she fled Dhaka in August 2024.