Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has called for revitalizing Bangladesh-Pakistan relations, emphasizing the importance of enhanced cooperation and tapping into untapped trade and business opportunities between the two South Asian nations.
The call came during a meeting with visiting Pakistani Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch at the State Guest House Jamuna. Baloch is the first Pakistani foreign secretary to visit Bangladesh in 15 years.
“There are certain hurdles, but we must find ways to overcome them and move forward,” Prof Yunus told Baloch, underlining the need for renewed dialogue and collaboration.
Foreign Secretary Baloch echoed similar sentiments, acknowledging past challenges while stressing the importance of focusing on future opportunities. “We have a huge intra-market potential in our own right, and we should harness it. We can’t afford to miss the bus every time,” she said.
Baloch emphasized the need for regular business-to-business (B2B) interactions and greater exchanges between private sectors and officials at all levels. She noted that a January 2025 visit by the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) to Dhaka had already resulted in a memorandum of understanding with the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industries (FBCCI), setting the stage for deeper economic cooperation.
She expressed optimism that the upcoming visit of Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar at the end of April would further strengthen bilateral ties.
Chief Adviser Yunus reaffirmed his preference for closer relations with neighboring countries within the SAARC framework and stressed the need for greater youth and cultural exchanges to boost people-to-people connections.
“Our relationship was frozen for a long time. We kept missing each other. Now is the time to overcome the barriers,” he said.
Recalling his meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the sidelines of the 79th UN General Assembly in New York and the D-8 Summit in Cairo in 2024, Yunus noted those engagements were key in reigniting bilateral cooperation.
He also reaffirmed Bangladesh’s commitment to working closely with Pakistan in multilateral forums such as SAARC, the OIC, and the D-8.
The meeting was attended by Senior Secretary on SDG Affairs Lamiya Morshed and Pakistan High Commissioner to Bangladesh Syed Ahmed Maroof, among others.
