<div><b><br></b></div><div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>India has said their National Security Advisor Ajit Doval's recent visit to Bangladesh was part of high level exchange of visits between the two neighbouring countries.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>"Bangladesh is a very close neighbor for us. It underwent general elections recently. It is a routine matter for countries to have exchange high level visits, especially with a close neighbor. The visit of National Security Advisor was in that context," said Spokesperson at the Ministry of External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal at a weekly briefing on Thursday.</div><div><br></div><div>Doval met with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and he conveyed the greetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to her.</div><div><br></div><div>On February 7, Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud had a conversation with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhiml.</div><div><br></div><div>Hasan, on a visit to India, also met with Doval.</div><div><br></div><div>The two countries talked about development partnership, defence and security, said the MEA spokesperson.</div><div><br></div><div>"We also talked about several other aspects of our engagement; economy, trade, people to people; also, as to how both the countries can synergize their efforts as we move forward on Viksit Bharat 2047, and Bangladesh on their route of Smart Bangladesh 2041," he said.</div><div><br></div><div>FM Hasan is scheduled to meet Indian President and hold a meeting with India’s Commerce Minister on Friday.</div><div><br></div><div>He will then return to Dhaka Friday night after attending events in Kolkata. According to UNB reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div><div><br></div>