Hillary Clinton now in Kolkata

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton left Dhaka for India on Sunday wrapping up her nearly 20 hours whirlwind visit to Bangladesh.

During her visit, she signed a partnership dialogue and held a wide range of talks with political leadership and civil society representatives.

Hillary, who arrived in Dhaka at 4:35pm Saturday, was given a hearty send-off by her Bangladesh counterpart Dipu Moni at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

She also addressed a Youth Leadership Programme at International School Dhaka (ISD) at Bashundhara residential city.

Bangladesh Ambassador in USA Akramul Qader, US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan Mozena, Ambassador at-Large Muhammad Ziauddin, Director General (Americas) at the Foreign Minister Muhammad A Muhith and Chief of Protocol Khondker M Talha went to the VVIP terminal of the airport to see-off Hillary.

A smiling Hillary exchanged pleasantries with everybody who lined up to see-off her and she posed with them for pictures before the special aircraft carrying her left for Kolkata at about 12:50pm (BST).

She is going to India on a three-day visit.

From Kolkata, she will depart for New Delhi Monday evening to hold talks with External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on Tuesday.

She is expected to call on Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and meet National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon.

During her stay in Dhaka, Hillary had bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, addressed a joint press conference with her, called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, inked a Joint Declaration on Bangladesh-US Partnership Dialogue with the foreign minister, met with Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia on Saturday.

On the concluding day of her tour on Sunday, Hillary had breakfast meeting with Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus and Brac Chairman Fazle Hasan Abed at the Gulshan residence of the US ambassador in Dhaka.