India has invited Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to visit the country on a bilateral tour. At the same time, he has also been invited to attend the outreach session of the upcoming BRICS summit scheduled to be held in New Delhi this September.

Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, shared this information during the ministry's weekly briefing in New Delhi on Tuesday (August 11).

In response to a journalist's question regarding the invitation for Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's visit to India, Jaiswal said, "Our High Commissioner held a meeting with the Prime Minister of Bangladesh on Tuesday. Issues of mutual bilateral interest were discussed during that meeting.

Regarding the invitation you mentioned, we have invited him for a bilateral visit as well as to join the BRICS summit in Delhi. We will provide you with further updates on this matter in due course."

The 18th BRICS summit, hosted by India, is scheduled to take place in New Delhi on September 12 and 13. According to BRICS protocols, leaders of various regional alliances are invited to the summit's outreach session.

Bangladesh is the current chair of BIMSTEC. In that capacity, India has invited the Prime Minister of Bangladesh to participate in the BRICS outreach session.

The formal invitation was sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh on July 14 via a diplomatic note through the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.

During the briefing, a journalist also asked about the two-day visit to Bangladesh by Parag Jain, chief of India's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

The journalist noted that the RAW chief had met with the Prime Minister's Defense Advisor, Brigadier General (Retd.) A.K.M. Shamsul Islam, and inquired about the purpose of the visit.

Jaiswal avoided the question, stating he had "no knowledge" of it and suggesting that the relevant ministry might be able to shed light on the matter.

However, Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman stated on Monday that Bangladesh has not yet made a decision regarding the Prime Minister's participation in the BRICS summit.

Following Indian envoy Dinesh Trivedi's meeting with the Prime Minister on Tuesday, the Foreign Minister remarked, "The 'Prime Minister' was not invited to BRICS; the 'Chairperson of BIMSTEC' was invited.

Please try to understand this distinction. Earlier, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote a letter to our Prime Minister which was handed over on the day our government was formed, and he extended an invitation there. An invitation exists, and we will examine it."