New Delhi: Renewal of the Ganges Water Treaty, which expires this year, and Dhaka’s request for additional fuel supplies in the wake of turmoil caused by the West Asian war are expected to top the agenda of Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman’s maiden visit to India next week, people familiar with the matter said.
Rahman, who served as National Security Advisor in the previous interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus, will travel to New Delhi on his way to Mauritius to attend the Indian Ocean Conference. He is expected to meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on April 8, said the sources, requesting anonymity.
This will be the first visit to India by a senior member of the new BNP government led by Prime Minister Tariq Rahman, and comes at a time when the two sides are rebuilding their relations after tensions witnessed under the interim administration.
Rahman, Bangladesh’s candidate for the presidency of the UN General Assembly for the period 2026-2027, is expected to seek India’s support in the elections. Rahman joined the UN Secretariat as a Special Adviser to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 1999 and has held several senior positions within the UN system in Geneva and New York.
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Renewing the three-decade-old Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, signed in December 1996, has come into focus in recent weeks, as teams from India and Bangladesh carry out hydrological and technical assessments in both countries. This is part of work to renew the crucial agreement governing water discharges from India, the upper riparian country, to Bangladesh.
The impact of the climate crisis on water flows and the role of the West Bengal government were crucial factors in the deal, officials said. The state government must sign the renewal of the water-sharing treaty.
Rahman is expected to raise Dhaka’s recent request for additional fuel supplies, especially diesel, in light of Bangladesh’s energy crisis precipitated by the war against Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the sources said. The sources said that in this context, it is not unlikely that a meeting will be held between Rahman and Oil Minister Hardeep Puri.
Indian officials acknowledged requests from neighboring countries, including Bangladesh, for additional fuel supplies and said such requests would be addressed keeping in mind India’s power requirements, availability of fuel stocks and refining capacity.
