Bangladesh will spread out the red carpet for Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, who will arrive on a three-day visit tomorrow to participate in the country’s golden jubilee celebrations.
President Md Abdul Hamid will meet with his Indian counterpart at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, where a special Indian Airlines plane carrying Kovind and his entourage is anticipated to land at 10 a.m. (BST).
According to the itinerary and officials involved, Ram Nath Kovind will visit Dhaka with the Indian first lady and their daughter, India’s education minister and two parliament members, as well as other senior officials.
As part of the welcoming ceremony at the airport, members of the Bangladesh army, navy, and air force will present him with a guard of honour, after which he will be led in a motorcade to the National Martyrs’ Memorial at Savar on the outskirts of the capital.
At the National Martyrs’ Memorial in Savar, the Indian president will lay wreaths in honour of Bangladesh’s nine-month-long Liberation War martyrs, plant a seedling, and sign the visitors’ book.
Later, he will pay respect to Bangladesh’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Museum in the capital’s Dhanmondi neighborhood, as Bangladesh commemorates his birth centenary and the country’s golden jubilee of independence.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will pay a courtesy call on Indian President Narendra Modi at his suit in the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel on the same day.
After talks with his counterpart, President Md Abdul Hamid will give a luncheon in his honor at Bangabhaban in the evening, which will be attended by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
According to a source acquainted with the visit, “the Indian president will give his counterpart with two replicas — Russian-made T-55 tanks and Mig-21 vintage aircraft used during the 1971 war as gifts.”
At the Bangabhaban, the Indian President will attend a cultural event.
On the second day of the visit, on December 16, the Indian President would participate as a “Guest of Honor” at the National Parade Ground to commemorate Bangladesh’s golden jubilee of Victory Day.
In the afternoon, Ram Nath Kovind will attend a program in the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban themed “Great Triumph Heroes” to pay tribute to Bangladesh’s Father of the Nation and to celebrate the joy of victory.
The occasion will be attended by President Md Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad, and other dignitaries.
The Indian President is expected to inaugurate and inspect the freshly rebuilt area of Kali Temple on the third day, December 17.
In the afternoon, he will fly from Dhaka to New Delhi.
