REFLECTING the aspirations of their people, Pakistan and Bangladesh held successful bilateral talks at Dhaka after a hiatus of fifteen years committing to boost their cooperation in diverse fields to their mutual advantage.
Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch led the Pakistan side at the 6th round of Foreign Secretary Level Consultations (FSLC) with her Bangladeshi counterpart Jashim Uddin where the two sides agreed to hold the 7th round in Islamabad next year.
The positive outcome of the talks countered propaganda campaign by some vested interests, which wanted the bilateral relationship to remain frozen in the past.
A statement issued by Pakistan Foreign Office described Dhaka talks as forward looking and constructive engagement held in a cordial environment.
The entire spectrum of Pakistan-Bangladesh bilateral relations came under discussion, including political, economic and trade relations, cooperation in agriculture, environment and education, cultural exchanges, defence relations and people-to-people contacts.
New avenues of cooperation were explored by the two sides and Baloch also discussed bilateral cooperation in various fields in her separate meetings with Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus and Adviser on Foreign Affairs Touhid Hossain.
The remarks made by the Chief Adviser during the meeting reflected sincerity of the BD leadership in forging multi-dimensional ties with Pakistan.
He emphasized strengthening relations with Pakistan to boost mutual cooperation and explore trade and business potentials, adding “we kept missing each other for a long time as our relationship was frozen.
We have to overcome the barriers”.
It is encouraging that the two countries are moving firmly to normalize their relations but the pace of normalization needs to be accelerated as their people will stand to benefit from closer and meaningful trade and commercial relations.
Direct contacts have already been established with the sailing of the first commercial vessel to BD from Karachi and easing of visa restrictions for Pakistani nationals by Dhaka besides the decision to resume direct flights soon.
There has also been an increase in education collaboration with Pakistan, offering 300 fully funded scholarships to Bangladeshi students.
In addition to economic, cultural and educational ties, there have also been significant developments in defence cooperation when, in January, senior military officials from Bangladesh visited Rawalpindi for the first time.
Hopefully the two sides will explore ways and means to strengthen their cooperation in different fields through senior level talks.
Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is due to visit BD this month and the Foreign Secretary level talks were aimed at laying grounds for substantive discussions between the two countries.
Given the goodwill and preference to shun acrimonious attitudes, there is no reason the cooperative mode will not move at the pace desired by the people of Bangladesh and Pakistan.
There is also greater scope for promoting regional cooperation through the platform of SAARC.
The idea for establishment of SAARC came from Bangladesh and Islamabad and Dhaka ought to make harmonious efforts for revival of the dormant association that offers an opportunity to address common challenges.
