Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia left the capital Dhaka for New Delhi Sunday morning on a week-long official visit at the invitation of the Indian government.
A Jet Airways flight carrying Khaleda, also the opposition leader in Parliament, left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 9:20am (local time).
BNP leaders are considering the visit 'very significant' as it is taking place a year before the next parliamentary election and just after Khaleda's China visit.
India earlier said the upcoming visit of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to New Delhi would provide an opportunity to exchange views on all matters of mutual interest ‘with a view to building upon the positive momentum’ in relations between the two countries.
“The visit is part of our ongoing engagement with a democratic and multiparty polity in Bangladesh,” the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India said in response to a question from the media on Friday.
“It would provide an opportunity to exchange views on all matters of mutual interest with a view to building upon the positive momentum in India-Bangladesh relations,” he noted.
Khaleda Zia’s last official visit to India was in 2006 as the then Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
The spokesperson also said Khaleda Zia, Leader of the Opposition, will be visiting India at the invitation of the Indian external affairs minister from October 28 to November 3.
During her stay, she is scheduled to call on Indian President Pranab Mukherjeee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, according to the spokesman.
She is also expected to visit Ajmer Sharif.
BBN/SSR/AD-28Oct12-1:40 pm (BST)
