The Modi-Yunus meeting has been canceled
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not have a bilateral meeting with Bangladesh Chief Adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, during the BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok, Thailand. He will meet with the Prime Minister of Thailand alone. This was confirmed through a statement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs on Friday.
The statement announced that on April 3, during the sidelines of the summit, Modi, in his bilateral encounter with Thailand Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, will meet to discuss India-Thailand relations. The meeting will be Modi’s only bilateral meeting during his Thailand visit.
Bangladesh Government officially requested India to arrange a bilateral meet between Prime Minister Modi and Chief Adviser Yunus on the sidelines of the summit.
Modi will be traveling to Thailand on April 3 to take part in the BIMSTEC summit. The following day, he will depart from Bangkok for Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital, on an official visit. Modi will travel to Sri Lanka on April 4-6 at the invitation of Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the statement added.
Although a bilateral meeting is not possible, the statement did not show whether Modi and Yunus would meet informally in Bangkok out of courtesy.
According to official reports, as both leaders are going to be at the same function, they would probably greet one another. There are also possibilities of a secret brief discussion, but it would be unofficial—a courtesy meeting at best. If so, this would be the first face-to-face meeting between the leaders of the two neighboring nations.
After the political transition in Bangladesh, Professor Yunus was appointed as the Chief Adviser of the caretaker government in August last. During the UN Security Council annual summit in September, the two leaders were unable to meet in person. Yunus arrived in New York after Modi had departed for home.
Despite it being nearly eight months since Yunus assumed office, the two leaders are yet to have a face-to-face meeting. Modi, however, had wished and congratulated Yunus on his selection. Modi had also wished Yunus on Bangladesh’s Independence Day on March 26 with a congratulatory message. A bilateral dialogue between the two, however, is yet to be initiated.
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Indian Army Chief Upendra Dwivedi has categorically said twice that India will have bilateral talks only with Bangladesh’s elected government. In the meantime, Yunus’ Press Secretary Shafibul Alam has recently told The Hindu newspaper that the Chief Adviser had indeed wished to visit India on his first official tour. But the Indian side kept mum. Yunus is now on his first foreign visit to China.
The fourth BIMSTEC summit was hosted in 2018 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The fifth summit was held virtually in 2022 and hosted by Colombo, Sri Lanka. The sixth, which will be hosted in Bangkok, will have the leaders of the highest order. The title of the conference is “BIMSTEC. Prosperous, Stable, and Free.” The presidency of the organization will be transferred to Bangladesh at this summit.
The leaders of the BIMSTEC summit will also explore means of strengthening mutual and regional cooperation among BIMSTEC nations in areas of enhancing growth in trade, economic opportunities, connectivity, and security. Climate change issues will also be on the agenda.
BIMSTEC member countries include Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Thailand.
