India stated on Tuesday (September 15) that two separate invitations had been extended from New Delhi to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Tareq Rahman. The Indian government clarified that one of the invitations was for a bilateral visit, while the other was for him to attend the BRICS summit in his capacity as the BIMSTEC Chair.
Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, confirmed that the two invitations were issued separately.
Earlier, on Thursday, the Bangladesh government had announced that Tareq Rahman would not participate in the BRICS summit.
Dhaka’s position was that he had not been invited to the summit personally; rather, the invitation was extended to the organization’s Chair in that capacity.
Responding to a journalist’s question regarding this on Tuesday, Jaiswal said, “We invited the Prime Minister of Bangladesh for a bilateral visit. Subsequently, he was invited to attend the BRICS summit as the BIMSTEC Chair. Thus, he received two invitations—one for a bilateral visit and the other to attend the BRICS summit.”
The two-day BRICS summit concluded in New Delhi last Sunday. It was attended by the heads of member nations as well as guests from other invited countries.
