Top diplomats break the ice in Dhaka after 15 years

ISLAMABAD:

After 15 years of frosty diplomatic ties, Pakistan and Bangladesh finally broke the ice on Thursday by restarting bilateral political talks at the foreign secretary level in Dhaka, just days before Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar's upcoming visit.

Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch, who was in the Bangladesh capital, led the Pakistani side at the 6th round of Foreign Secretary Level Consultations (FSLC) with her Bangladeshi counterpart, Jashim Uddin, the Foreign Office in Islamabad and the Bangladeshi media said.

"The 6th round of Foreign Secretary Level Consultations took place at Dhaka today after a hiatus of 15 years," read a statement issued here by the Foreign Office. "Both sides had a constructive and forward-looking engagement in a cordial environment," it added.

"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," it added.

The statement said that new avenues of cooperation were explored by the two sides. Baloch also discussed bilateral cooperation in various fields in her separate meetings met with Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus and Adviser on Foreign Affairs Touhid Hossain, according to the statement.

At the talks, Baloch was welcomed by the Bangladeshi foreign ministry Director General Ishrat Jahan, the Dhaka Tribune reported. All bilateral issues were discussed during the meeting, another outlet, The Daily Star, quoted diplomatic sources as saying.

During Baloch's call on Prof Yunus, the Foreign Office said, trade and investment opportunities, youth linkages, regional integration, and revival of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) remained the focus of discussion.

Bangladesh's government-run news agency said that Prof Yunus emphasised strengthening relations with Pakistan to boost mutual cooperation and explore trade and business potentials. "There are certain hurdles. We have to find ways to overcome those and move forward," he told Baloch.

"We kept missing each other for a long time as our relationship was frozen. We have to overcome the barriers," he said, and suggested that the two countries should exchange more youth and cultural programmes to increase the people-to-people bonding.

The Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) news agency further said that Baloch was the first Pakistani foreign secretary to visit Bangladesh in 15 years. Acknowledging past issues, Baloch underscored in the meeting that both the countries must find ways to "harness the potential" between the two countries.

"We have a huge intra-market potential on our own rights, and we should use it," Baloch said. "We can't miss the bus every time." She stressed the need for regular business-to-business (B2B) interactions between the private sectors of two countries and exchanging visits at all levels.

BSS quoted Prof Yunus as saying that he always preferred closer ties with neighbouring countries, including Pakistan, in the framework of Saarc. Yunus recalled his two meetings with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, saying that they were the key to progress in bilateral relations.

Baloch hoped that the upcoming visit of the Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar would further boost relations between the two countries, the BSS reported. Yunus said Bangladesh and Pakistan would continue to work closely at multilateral and regional forums.

According to the Foreign Office statement, Foreign Secretary Baloch called on Adviser on Foreign Affairs Touhid Hossain and discussed regional issues, including revival of Saarc and trade and economic relations between the two countries.

Relations between Pakistan and Bangladeshi remained strained during the 15-year rule of pro-India Sheikh Hasina Wajid. But her ouster in August last year brought a dramatic shift in the bilateral ties, according to media reports.

The last meeting at the level of foreign secretaries between Bangladesh and Pakistan took place in 2010, during Sheikh Hasina's first term in office. Baloch's Dhaka visit came ahead of Foreign Minister Dar's visit to Dhaka on April 22 – the first visit by any Pakistani foreign minister to Bangladesh since 2012.

Political and economic analysts believe that a 'cold war' in relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh led to a lack of progress in trade, communications and other areas over the past 15 years. They added that the two foreign secretaries would find common ground in their meeting to improve relations.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to Pakistan Mohammad Iqbal Hussain Khan, who was in Dhaka for the foreign secretary level talks, told BSS that Islamabad was particularly interested in increasing trade relations with Dhaka.

Former diplomat Humayun Kabir opined that such a meeting after 15 years would add a new dimensions to the diplomatic relations between the two countries. "The aim of this meeting is to reach a common ground which is necessary to normalise relations between the two countries," he told BBC Bangla.

Saheb Inam Khan, an international relations analyst from Jahangir Nagar University, told BBC that the Bangladesh government was prioritising relations with countries that could be helpful to the its economy and the trade relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh would benefit both countries.