Dhaka, Sept 4 :National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon today visited the Bangladesh capital on an unscheduled tour, the second in five days to review the last-minute preparedness ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit next week.
Official sources said Menon was in Dhaka for a few hours to review the latest developments linked to Singh's September 6-7 tour.
“Mr Menon held meetings with Water Resources Minister Ramesh Sen and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's foreign affairs adviser Gawher Rizvi and Economic Affairs Adviser Mashiur Rahman,” a source told PTI without any elaboration. The source said, Menon represented the Indian Water Resource Minister P K Bansal in the meeting with Sen whose counterpart was expected in Dhaka ahead of Singh's visit as Dhaka and New Delhi are set to ink a deal on sharing of waters of Teesta river coinciding with the meeting between the two Prime Ministers.
Earlier, the NSA had come to Dhaka on August 28 on a two day tour and held extensive talks with Bangladesh leaders, including Hasina to fine tune agreements, MoUs and protocols that were expected to be signed during Singh's visit. The issues discussed included connectivity, trade, power, border, water, security and culture.
In related development, Indian security officials today held extensive meetings with their Bangladesh counterparts at the Prime Minister's office on issues related to Singh's security during his tour, officials said.“They held long meetings and reviewed the security arrangements,” an Indian High Commission spokesman told PTI.
