Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in Bangladesh for a two-day visit aimed at improving bilateral relations.

Mr. Singh is holding talks with his Bangladesh counterpart, Sheikh Hasina, on a wide range of issues.

Indian officials say the trip is likely to produce agreements to give India expanded access to two major Bangladeshi ports and to improve transportation links and trade. Proposals to swap disputed enclaves along parts of the Indian-Bangladeshi border are also expected to be on the agenda.

But a major water-sharing deal may be off the table for the moment due to opposition from the chief minister of West Bengal, the Indian state bordering Bangladesh. Mamata Banerjee is reportedly dissatisfied with the terms of the treaty to share water from the Teesta River that runs between the two countries.

India's foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai says the talks represent a “paradigm shift” in relations with Bangladesh. It is the first such visit by an Indian leader to the neighboring country since 1999.

The meeting is expected to definitively demarcate the border between the two South Asian countries. Currently, India has 111 enclaves within Bangladesh totaling close to 7,000 hectares of land. Bangladesh has 51 enclaves, or 2,800 hectares of land, in India.

Ahead of Mr. Singh's visit to Dhaka, India has approved a $750 million loan to Bangladesh to develop ports, railways and other infrastructure.

Bangladeshi economic relations division chief Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the Indian government approved the disbursement of the money as part of a 2010 agreement offering Bangladesh a $1 billion credit line.

India helped Bangladesh secede from Pakistan in 1971, but relations soured after a 1975 military coup in Bangladesh and a series of low-level border clashes.