First Foreign Office Consultation in 15yrs: Bangladesh, Pakistan to discuss all issues of mutual cooperation
Foreign Secretary Md Jashim Uddin will brief the media later this afternoon
Highlights:
- Last Foreign Office Consultations was held in 2010
- Foreign Secretary Md Jashim Uddin leading the Bangladesh side
- Pakistan Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch leading her country's delegation
- Jashim will brief the media at 5:30pm
- Pakistan wanted to hold FOC as part of Islamabad's efforts to strengthen ties with Dhaka
The Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) between Bangladesh and Pakistan started in Dhaka this morning (17 April), marking the first such meeting since 2010.
Foreign Secretary Md Jashim Uddin and Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch are leading their respective sides at the FOC being held at the foreign ministry, according to ministry sources.
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Jashim will brief the media at 5:30pm after the meeting, sources said.
Baloch, who assumed the charge as the 33rd Foreign Secretary of Pakistan on 11 September last year, arrived in Dhaka yesterday (16 April).
Ishrat Jahan, the director general of the South Asia Wing at the foreign ministry, welcomed her upon arrival in Dhaka.
Pakistan wanted to hold the FOC with Bangladesh as part of Islamabad's efforts to strengthen ties with Dhaka.
Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is also scheduled to pay an official visit to Bangladesh later this month.
Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam on Tuesday said there will be discussions on all issues of mutual interest as the Deputy Prime Minister of Pakistan is coming.
Ishaq Dar's upcoming trip to Dhaka will mark the first visit by a Pakistani Foreign Minister since 2012.
Both sides, in their recent interactions, expressed satisfaction over the recent visits of several trade delegations from Pakistan to Bangladesh and emphasised the importance of visits by the product-specific trade delegations from Bangladesh to Pakistan.
Cooperation in the sectors of tourism, people-to-people contacts, cultural exchanges, the issue of forcibly displaced Rohingyas and cooperation in the international forum were also discussed.
Both sides recalled the substantive discussion between Bangladesh's chief adviser and the prime minister of Pakistan during their meetings in Cairo on the sidelines of D-8 Summit in December 2024 and in New York in September 2024 on the sidelines of the 79th UNGA.
They also recalled the meeting between the Bangladesh foreign adviser and the deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Pakistan on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Apia, Samoa in October 2024.
