Bangladesh’s interim President Muhammad Yunus on Thursday stressed the importance of improving bilateral relations with Pakistan in order to maximize cooperation and seize common business prospects.
Yunus made his comments in a meeting with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch, the first senior visit from Islamabad to Dhaka in 15 years. “There are some obstacles. We have to see how we can get over them and go ahead,” he said to Baloch, emphasizing the need to give new life to relations that have gone stale for too long.
Looking back at the previous disconnect between the two countries, Yunus said, “We kept missing each other for a long time as our relationship was frozen. We have to overcome the barriers.” He proposed that new cooperation should comprise cultural and youth exchange programmes to foster closer people-to-people ties.
He also reaffirmed his inclination towards developing closer ties with all neighboring nations under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) framework, citing the regional forum’s potential for economic and diplomatic interaction.
In their conversation, Baloch recognized past difficulties but called for a new strategy in building cooperation. “We have enormous intramarket potential on our own rights, and we should use it,” she added, “We can’t miss the bus every time.”
Baloch also emphasized the importance of frequent interactions between business communities in both countries. She mentioned that a delegation from the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) had visited Dhaka in January and signed a memorandum of understanding with the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industries (FBCCI), laying the groundwork for stronger economic ties.
In the future, the foreign secretary of Pakistan remained hopeful that the visit of Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, planned to be here later this April, would further strengthen the developing relationship between the two countries.
Reminding him of his recent bilateral meetings with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif initially in New York during the 79th UN General Assembly in September 2024 and subsequently in Cairo at the D8 Summit in December 2024 — Yunus stated that such interactions were key to advancing the bilateral agenda. He further stated that the two nations will keep cooperating in regional and international forums like SAARC, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and D8.
