Jaishankar to meet Bangladeshi counterpart despite tensions.

• External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will meet Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain at the eighth Indian Ocean Conference.

• The conference, co-hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Omani government, is organized by the India Foundation.

• The conference will include Foreign Ministers from Bhutan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

• China’s Special Envoy for Middle East Affairs Zhai Jun will attend, marking the first time an official from China has been invited since the 2019 conference.

• Other Foreign Ministers from 27 countries will also be present.

• The meeting comes amid spiralling ties between the Modi government and the caretaker government led by Muhammad Yunus.

• Issues such as border security, water sharing, flood management, trade issues, and the release of radicals and those accused on terror charges in Bangladesh have been discussed.

• Jaishankar and Hossain will be tasked with resolving these issues and preparing for a possible meeting between Modi and Yunus.

• Other counterparts from the region will also be in attendance, including Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs Vijitha Herath, Maldives’ Foreign Minister Abdulla Khaleel, and Nepal’s Foreign Minister Arzu Deuba.