NEW DELHI, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar Wednesday embarked on a two-day tour of Bangladesh, a high-profile visit aimed at bolstering bilateral security ties with the neighboring country.
Parrikar is the first Indian Defense Minister to visit Bangladesh, whose Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is slated to visit Delhi next month.
Sources said the Indian Defense Minister will meet Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister apart from other top leadership of that country, during the two-day visit, and create the ground for a defence cooperation agreement likely to be inked during Hasina's visit on Dec. 17.
"On the first day, he is scheduled to call on President Hamid in Dhaka and hold discussions with the Security Advisor to Prime Minister. On the concluding day, Parrikar will visit the Bangladesh Military Academy in the coastal town of Chittagong and meet Hasina in Dhaka," the sources added.
Sources said that issues such as bilateral naval and air force exercises, training of Bangladeshi defence personnel, supply of military hardware, technology transfer and co-ordinated patrolling of the international maritime boundary could be discussed between Parrikar and Hasina.
