BIMSTEC leaders will attend Modi’s oath taking

Leaders of the seven countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 30.

From Bangladesh, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Moazammel Huq, will attend, said India's External Affairs ministry, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

The leaders of the seven countries of BIMSTEC have been invited to the swearing-in as part of India's "neighbourhood first" policy, it said in a statement.

The BIMSTEC comprises Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would not be able to attend the swearing-in of Modi as she will be on a prescheduled foreign visit.

In her place, Liberation War Affairs Minister A K M Mozammel Huq, as the senior most Cabinet member of the Bangladesh government, will attend the ceremony.

In 2014 too, Hasina could not make it Modi's oath-taking on May 26 as she was on a tour of Japan and she was represented by the Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Shirin Sharmin Choudhury.

Hasina was among the first foreign leaders to call up Modi and congratulate him on May 23 on his landslide poll victory in this year's parliamentary elections. She also a sent a congratulatory message to the Indian PM.

The President of Kyrgyzstan – the current chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation -- and the Prime Minister of Mauritius have also been invited to attend the oath-taking on the ministry statement said.

President Ram Nath Kovind will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Modi and other members.

Modi is the first BJP leader who has been elected for a second successive term after completion of his five-year tenure, a feat so far achieved only by three Congress leaders -- Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Manmohan Singh.