Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's September 5-8 India visit is expected to focus on issues that can help her counter negative factors ahead of the election scheduled next year, The Hindu has learnt from sources working on the agenda of the visit. Apart from engaging Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a political dialogue, the visiting leader is likely to focus on water sharing, energy cooperation, uninterrupted commercial flow and greater connectivity.
"We are sensing that there will be an energy supply element in bilateral agreements between the two sides," said a diplomatic source without getting into the specifics. One of the hallmarks of Ms. Hasina's 13-year old government has been the stability of energy and power generation in Bangladesh which has drastically reduced load shedding in major cities and industrial areas and ports. However, since last month Bangladesh has seen more than 50% hike in energy which has contributed to increased price of essential supplies, creating a challenging situation for her government. A source also hinted that even in the absence of an energy agreement, there is likely to be a "favourable response" from India if Bangladesh was to seek suggestions from the Indian side about how to address the current energy crisis, which partly being blamed on the global disruption caused by the Ukraine crisis.
