Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch arrived in Dhaka on Tuesday for Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) after a 15-year break in diplomatic engagement with Bangladesh.
In the years since the split between Pakistan and Bangladesh, Dhaka’s leaders — especially the ousted regime of Sheikh Hasina — stayed firmly in the Indian camp, preferring to maintain close ties with New Delhi and keeping Islamabad at arm’s length.
However, ever since a popular uprising that saw Hasina’s government toppled in August of last year, with the disposed premier fleeing to her old ally India, there has been a thaw in ties between the two capitals, with trade and bilateral relations seeing a marked improvement.
Baloch was welcomed by the director general of the Bangladeshi foreign ministry Ishrat Jahan, the Dhaka Tribune reported. She will lead Islamabad’s delegation at the FOC today, and Foreign Secretary Jashim Uddin will lead the Bangladesh side, the report added.
The outlet further stated that Islamabad proposed the consultations as part of its efforts to strengthen diplomatic ties with Dhaka.
All bilateral issues will be discussed during the FOC, another outlet The Daily Star quoted diplomatic sources as saying.
It also said that Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar was expected to visit Bangladesh on April 27–28.
Last month, PM Shehbaz Sharif held a telephone conversation with Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus where the two leaders reaffirmed their shared desire to further strengthen bilateral relations.
In February, both countries started direct government-to-government trade after decades of troubled relations with imports of 50,000 tonnes of rice.
Direct private trade between the countries restarted in November 2024 when a container ship sailed from Karachi to Chittagong. It was the first cargo ship in decades to sail directly between the countries.
