'Bangladeshis looking forward to Manmohan Singh's visit'

Dhaka, Jul 7: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Jul 7) said that people of Bangladesh are looking forward to the visit of her Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh here in September.

She stated this when External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, who is here on a three-day visit, called on her this morning. During their meeting, Krishna conveyed to Hasina that Congress President Sonia Gandhi will also visit Bangladesh before Singh's trip here.

Singh's visit to Bangladesh on September six and seven is expected to mark a new beginning in bilateral ties as some crucial issues like border demarcation and exchange of enclaves are likely to be resolved.

Krishna yesterday said that India would go "out of the way" to forge stronger ties with Bangladesh and hoped that Dhaka would not draw any "adverse inference" from Singh's recent controversial remarks about the country.

"I hope no adverse inference will be drawn by the Bangladesh government from the Prime Minister's remarks," Krishna said, trying to play down Singh''s remarks that 25 per cent people of Bangladesh were anti-India.

PTI