ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Bangladesh have resolved to revive their “old connections” and enhance trade and youth linkages, the Pakistani foreign office said on Sunday, following Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar’s meeting with Bangladesh’s chief adviser Muhammad Yunus in Dhaka.

Dar arrived in Bangladesh on a high-profile visit on Saturday in a bid to reset relations, which were scarred by the bloody 1971 conflict but have been reshaped by shifting regional power balances in recent months.
Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Jam Kamal has been in Dhaka this week, discussing trade and agricultural collaboration, while Pakistan’s foreign secretary Amna Baloch held in April the first bilateral consultations with Bangladesh in 15 years.

Dar met Yunus on Sunday and apprised the Bangladeshi chief adviser of his engagements in Dhaka and the key outcomes of his two-day visit, thanking for the “warm hospitality” extended to him and his delegation, according to the Pakistani foreign office.

“The discussion covered revival of old connections between the two countries, promoting youth linkages, enhancing connectivity, and augmenting trade and economic cooperation,” the foreign office said after the meeting.

“The recent developments in the region and the prospects of regional cooperation were also discussed.”

Pakistan and Bangladesh were once one nation, but they split in 1971 as a result of a bloody civil war, which saw the part previously referred to as East Pakistan seceding to form the independent nation of Bangladesh. In the years since, Bangladeshi leaders, particularly ex-PM Sheikh Hasina, chose to maintain close ties with India.

Ties between Pakistan and Bangladesh have warmed up since Hasina’s ouster as a result of a student-led uprising in August, witnessing a marked improvement. Both countries began sea trade last year, expanding government-to-government commerce in February.

Dar also met Khaleda Zia, a former Bangladeshi prime minister and head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), at her residence in Dhaka. Zia, who ruled Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006, has liver disease, diabetes and heart problems, according to her doctors. She has largely remained away from politics for many years.

“The DPM/FM expressed his best wishes for her speedy recovery and well-being,” the foreign office said. “He also conveyed to Begum Sahibah the greetings from the Prime Minister of Pakistan. He lauded her services to Bangladesh as Prime Minister of the country.”

Earlier on Sunday, Dar held wide-ranging talks with Bangladesh Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain during which both sides discussed bilateral ties, people-to-people contacts, and cooperation in education and capacity building as well as regional and global issues.

“Regional and international issues, including rejuvenation of SAARC [South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation] and resolution of Palestine and the Rohingya issues were also discussed,” the Pakistani foreign office said.

Following the delegation-level talks, the two sides signed six agreements relating to visa abolition for diplomatic and official passport holders, Joint Working Group on Trade, foreign services academies of Pakistan and Bangladesh, the Associated Press of Pakistan Corporation and Bangladesh Sangbad

Sangstha, the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad and the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies, and a cultural exchange program.

“These agreements will institutionalize and further strengthen the bilateral cooperation in trade and economics, training of diplomats, academic exchanges, media cooperation and cultural exchanges,” the Pakistani foreign office added.

Prior to that, the Pakistani deputy premier, along with Commerce Minister Jam Kamal, met Bangladesh’s Commerce Adviser Sheikh Bashir Uddin and other senior officials of Bangladesh’s state-owned institutions to discuss bilateral trade, investment and economic cooperation between the two sides.