President Ram Nath Kovind to visit Bangladesh on Dec 16 to attend Victory Day celebrations

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Dhaka: President Ram Nath Kovind will travel to Dhaka on December 16 to attend the golden jubilee celebration of Bangladesh's 1971 independence from Pakistan following a nine-month long Liberation War, officials said on Monday.

President Kovind would travel to the neighbouring country on December 16 on a two-day visit at the invitation of his Bangladesh counterpart Abdul Hamid.

"We expect the Indian President to arrive (in Dhaka) on December 16 on a two-day visit to join our golden jubilee celebrations," a spokesman of Bangladesh's foreign ministry said.

His comments came a day after Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told reporters that President Kovind would join the Victory Day celebrations, which would also coincide with the wrapping up ceremony of Bangladesh's founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's birth centenary celebrations.

This will be President Kovind's first Dhaka visit and it comes eight months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bangladesh to join the opening of the birth centenary and golden jubilee celebrations in March.

Bangladesh and India are jointly organising a "Logo and Backdrop" designing competition, marking the Maitri Diwas on December 6.

According to a report in the Dhaka Tribune, Bangladesh and India are working together eyeing two mega events next month - Maitri Diwas and Victory Day of Bangladesh - on December 6 and December 16 respectively with exchange of high-level visits.

Apart from the Victory Day celebrations, the president will also take part in other key engagements, it said.

Bangladesh is commemorating Mujib Borsho, the birth centenary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and 50 years of the country's war of liberation. The two countries are also celebrating 50 years of the establishment of diplomatic ties.

The Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 broke after the sudden crackdown at midnight on March 25, 1971 in the erstwhile East Pakistan by the Pakistani troops and ended on December 16.

Pakistan conceded defeat and unconditionally surrendered in Dhaka to the allied forces comprising the freedom fighters and the Indian soldiers.

India had recognised Bangladesh as a sovereign country on December 6 while it extended all out support to Bangladesh's freedom fighters.

Officially three million people were killed during the nine-month long war.

The two countries decided to commemorate December 6 as Maitri Diwas (Friendship Day), the day when India recognised Bangladesh in 1971, the report said.

During his visit to Bangladesh in March, Prime Minister Modi met with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina and they reviewed the full range of bilateral ties and discussed ways to deepen the economic and cultural linkages in the times to come.

During the visit, the two sides signed five MoUs covering areas such as connectivity, commerce, information technology and sports.