LAHORE: Bangladesh Ambassador to Pakistan Muhammad Iqbal Khan has said that Pakistanis can now obtain visas for his country online as Dhaka has relaxed visa conditions for the country, The News reported on Sunday.
Speaking during his visit to the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the ambassador said that the people of Bangladesh want to have a loving relationship with the people of Pakistan and increasing cooperation between the two countries was the need of the hour.
Noting that the LCCI could play a role in increasing bilateral trade between Pakistan and Bangladesh, the envoy called for the strengthening of economic and financial cooperation between Islamabad and Dhaka.
The development comes in the backdrop of melting ice between the two countries ever since the incumbent interim government led by Bangladesh Professor Muhammad Yunus came to power in Dhaka following the ouster of PM Sheikh Hasina.
Last month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Prof Yunus on the sidelines of the D-8 summit in Cairo and emphasised the need to make joint efforts to explore new avenues of economic cooperation.
During the meeting, he had stressed taking advantage of great potential to boost trade in different sectors including chemicals, cement clinkers, surgical goods, leather goods and IT.
He had also expressed his gratitude to Bangladesh for the recent steps taken for the facilitation of trade and travel between Pakistan and Bangladesh. This includes waiving off the condition of 100% physical inspection of the consignments from Pakistan and the abolishment of special security desk at the Dhaka airport earlier established to scrutinise Pakistani passengers.
PM Shehbaz had also thanked Bangladesh for doing away with additional clearance requirements for Pakistani visa applicants.
The two leaders expressed satisfaction over recent positive developments in bilateral relations and noted with satisfaction the increasing frequency of high-level contacts.
Furthermore, they had agreed to expand and deepen bilateral cooperation in all areas of mutual interest and emphasised the need to align efforts to achieve mutually beneficial development objectives.
Prior to this, PM Shehbaz had met Prof Yunus on the sidelines of the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly in September 2024 where he accentuated Pakistan’s strong fraternal ties with Bangladesh, based on common faith, history and culture and encouraged fostering relations through parliamentary exchanges, people-to-people contacts, and interactions among academics, artists, students, etc.
Following the meeting, the first-ever direct maritime link was established between the two countries after a cargo vessel reached Chittagong Port from Karachi.
This was followed by the purchase of 25,000 tons of high-quality sugar by Bangladesh from Pakistan, as reported by the publication in the first week of December which said that Dhaka had usually been importing sugar from India.
Apart from common economic interests, Islamabad and Dhaka share mutual concerns relating to Indian aggression.
