ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Office said on Thursday that Islamabad aimed to build strong, multifaceted and friendly relations with Bangladesh, believing that cooperation between the two nations would enhance peace in the region.
The remarks followed recent statements by the Bangladeshi interim government, including from Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, that expressed a desire to resolve lingering issues and improve relations with Pakistan.
In a recent meeting with Pakistan’s envoy to Dhaka, Nahid Islam, a minister in the interim Bangladesh government, also stressed Bangladesh’s intention to address “unresolved issues” and foster stronger ties with Pakistan for the sake of a “more democratic South Asia.”
Speaking at a weekly press briefing, Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said there was an “immense goodwill” in Pakistan for Bangladesh and Islamabad wanted relations between the two countries to prosper.
“Pakistan has always said that it wishes to have robust, multifaceted relations, friendly relations with Bangladesh,” Baloch said. “We believe that our cooperation between Pakistan and Bangladesh will further contribute to enhancing peace and friendship in the region.”
Established together as one independent nation in 1947, Bangladesh won liberation from then-West Pakistan in 1971. Relations between the two countries continued to deteriorate during former PM Sheikh Hasina’s administration, which prosecuted several members of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party for war crimes relating to the 1971 conflict.
Dhaka has consistently called for an apology from Pakistan and sought international recognition of a “genocide” of the Bangladeshi people during the 1971 conflict. The issue remains unresolved despite numerous attempts over the last five decades.
However, relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan have witnessed a thaw since the ouster of PM Hasina on August 5 as a result of a student-led uprising in the country.
During the weekly briefing, Baloch said Bangladesh was an important partner for Pakistan in South Asia, describing it as a brotherly Muslim country.
“[Cooperation between Pakistan and Bangladesh] will contribute to the development of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation as a positive and robust institution,” she added.
Pakistan seeks friendly ties with Bangladesh for enhanced regional peace, Foreign Office says
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Pakistan seeks friendly ties with Bangladesh for enhanced regional peace, Foreign Office says
- Established together as one independent nation in 1947, Bangladesh won liberation from then-West Pakistan in 1971
- Ties between the two countries have witnessed a thaw since the ouster of PM Hasina as a result of a student-led uprising
Pakistan highlights economic reforms at Davos, eyes cooperation in AI, IT and minerals
- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif speaks at breakfast event in Davos at sidelines of World Economic Forum summit
- Pakistan, rich in gold, copper reserves, has sought cooperation with China, US, Gulf countries in its mineral sector
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif highlighted Pakistan’s recent economic reforms during the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) summit in Davos on Wednesday, saying that his country was eyeing greater cooperation in mines and minerals, information technology, cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence with other states.
The Pakistani prime minister was speaking at the Pakistan Pavilion in Davos on the sidelines of the WEF summit at a breakfast event. Sharif arrived in Switzerland on Tuesday to attend the 56th annual meeting of the WEF, which brings together global business leaders, policymakers and politicians to speak on social, economic and political challenges.
Pakistan has recently undertaken several economic reforms, which include removing subsidies on energy and food, privatization of loss-making state-owned enterprises and expanding its tax base. Islamabad took the measures as part of reforms it agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for a financial bailout package.
“We are now into mines and minerals business in a big way,” Sharif said at the event. “We have signed agreements with American companies and Chinese companies.”
Islamabad has sought to attract foreign investment in its critical minerals sector in recent months. In April 2025, Pakistan hosted an international minerals summit where top companies and government officials from the US, Saudi Arabia, China, Türkiye, the UK, Azerbaijan, and other nations attended.
Pakistan is rich in gold, copper and lithium reserves as well as other minerals, yet its mineral sector contributes only 3.2 percent to the countrys GDP and 0.1 percent to global exports, according to official figures.
Sharif said Pakistan has been blessed with infinite natural resources which are buried in its mountains in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir and southwestern Balochistan regions.
“But we have now decided to go forward at lightning speed,” he said. “And we are also moving speedily in the field of crypto, AI, IT.”
He said the government’s fiscal and economic measures have reduced inflation from nearly 30 percent a few years ago to single-digit figures, adding that its tax-to-GDP ratio had also increased from 9 to 10.5 percent.
The prime minister admitted Pakistan’s exports face different kinds of challenges collectively, saying the country’s social indicators needed to improve.
“But the way forward is very clear: that Pakistan has to have an export-led growth,” he said.
Sharif will take part in an informal meeting of world leaders this year themed ‘The Importance of Dialogue in a Divided Global Landscape,’ his office said in an earlier statement.
Pakistan’s participation at the WEF comes as Islamabad seeks to sustain recent economic stabilization and attract investment by engaging directly with policymakers, business leaders and international institutions at the annual gathering.
