Dhaka: Bangladesh Thursday said it has decided to sign an agreement with Pakistan to allow government officials and diplomats from both sides to visit each other’s country without visa for five years.
The Pakistan government has already approved it.
The development came ahead of Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar’s planned Bangladesh visit on Saturday even as its Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan reached Dhaka on Wednesday and met with Bangladesh’s Commerce Adviser Sk Bashiruddin on Thursday.
“Bangladesh has decided to sign an agreement with Pakistan allowing government officials and diplomats to visit each other’s country without visa,” Chief Adviser of the Interim Government Muhammad Yunus’ press secretary Shafiqul Alam told a media briefing here.
The agreement, once signed, will be for a period of five years, he said.
Asked if this was yet another sign of increased bonhomie with Pakistan since the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, Alam, however, called the deal a “routine matter” and added that Bangladesh has similar agreements with 30 countries.
The Advisory Council — effectively the cabinet — with Yunus in the chair, on Thursday gave its final approval to the deal, officials said.
The two countries are expected to ink five memorandums of understanding (MoUs) during the visit of the two Pakistani ministers, The Daily Star newspaper said, quoting diplomatic sources in Islamabad.
These MoUs would include the visa-free visits by officials and diplomats to boost bilateral relationship in the areas of trade, culture, media, training and travel.
According to media reports and officials, bilateral trade increased from both ends in the past one year with trade volume reaching worth $865 million in fiscal 2024-25.
Bangladesh’s exports to Pakistan stood at $78 million, a 20 per cent increase from the previous year, while Pakistan’s exports increased by 28 per cent.
Dhaka-Islamabad ties witnessed low ebb during the Hasina’s Awami League government, particularly when Bangladesh initiated trials of hardened collaborators of Pak troops during the 1971 Liberation War in 2010. Hina Rabbani was the last Pakistani foreign minister to visit Dhaka in 2012 to invite now deposed prime minister Hasina to the D-8 summit in Islamabad. The relations between the two countries became warmer since the installation of Yunus-led interim government last year, three days after Hasina fled the country on August 5 following a violent students’ protest led by Students Against Discrimination (SAD).
Earlier in July, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited Dhaka following a bilateral foreign secretary level consultation on April 17, after a pause of 15 years.
Over the last few months, Bangladesh and Pakistan began direct shipping, eased visa and trade regimes and are set to start direct flights. Fly Jinnah has already secured approval from Bangladesh, while another Pakistani airlines operator Air Sial has applied for the same.
The officials said Biman Bangladesh, too, planned to seek Pakistani approval to operate flights between the two countries.
A Pakistani business delegation, led by President of the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Atif Ikram Sheikh, visited Dhaka in January this year after 12 years.
PTI
