Mr Vikram Doraiswami, the new Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, has said that the partnership between the two neighbouring countries was based on respect, adding that India deeply admires and respects the spirit of the Bangladeshi people, who fashioned a nation based on their own unique identity through a historic struggle.

“I recognise that even the closest of relationships need to be nurtured. My government has ordered me to do exactly that,” Doraiswami said in his maiden interaction with the media at his official residence, the India House in Dhaka, after presenting his credentials to President Md Abdul Hamid in October.

Mr Doraiswami arrived in Bangladesh in September through Tripura, three days after the former Indian envoy Riva Ganguly Das had left for New Delhi after one and a half years of tenure. The arrival of the new envoy comes at a time when Bangladesh is celebrating Mujib Borsho and also preparing for the golden jubilee of the country’s independence, which also marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Bangladesh and India.