Formal request for Hasina's visit

New Delhi on Monday requested Dhaka to consider a visit by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India in order to give an impetus to bilateral ties.

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid conveyed to his Bangladeshi counterpart Dipu Moni that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was looking forward to hosting Hasina.
Khurshid had a bilateral meeting with Moni here
 on Monday.  

Both are on a visit to the capital of Brunei Darussalam to attend the Association of South East Asian Nations Regional Forum.

The minister told journalists that he and his counterpart from Bangladesh had reviewed the bilateral ties and explored ways to take it to new heights.

New Delhi and Dhaka have been discussing a proposed visit by Bangladesh prime minister to India.

It, however, continues to be uncertain as both countries were going into election mode.  Bangladesh is likely to go to the polls later this year or early next year. India is set to have Parliamentary elections in May 2014.

Khurshid on Monday also had a meeting with his Canadian counterpart John Baird. Though he was slated to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, it was later rescheduled for Tuesday.