Pakistan’s FM Ishaq Dar to visit Bangladesh on August 23 amid warming ties

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar will visit Dhaka on August 23 to meet Bangladeshi officials, including Foreign Minister Touhid Hossain. The visit reflects improved bilateral relations, resumption of direct trade, and recent visa-free agreements for officials.

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is set to visit Bangladesh on August 23 as the two countries saw a warming up of bilateral relations after former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s ouster from office last year.

Dar, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, was earlier set to visit Bangladesh in April this year, but the visit was postponed due to tension with India in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack and subsequent conflict between India and Pakistan.

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According to official sources, Dar is now set to visit Dhaka on August 23.

The details of the visit, however, have not been shared as yet, but he is expected to meet his counterpart Touhid Hossain, as well as the Chief Adviser of the Interim government, Muhammad Yunus.

Ties between Pakistan and Bangladesh had plummeted during Hasina’s regime, but took a sharp upward turn as she was ousted from power on August 5 last year following a massive student-led protest.

Last month, the two countries agreed to grant visa-free entry to holders of diplomatic and official passports from the other side.

The deal was reached during a meeting between Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Bangladesh’s Home Minister Jahangir Alam Chowdhury.

Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch had visited Dhaka in April for Foreign Office Consultations after a 15-year break in diplomatic engagement with Bangladesh.

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 two countries restarted in November 2024 when a container ship sailed from Karachi to Chittagong.