Pakistan, Bangladesh to launch direct flights, boost trade ties

ISLAMABAD: Direct flights between Pakistan and Bangladesh, including cargo flights, will soon open up fresh avenues of trade and business between the two countries.

Bangladeshi High Commissioner to Pakistan Muhammad Iqbal Hussain Khan noted during a meeting with the president of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nasir Mansoor Qureshi, that this step is going to increase connectivity and strengthen both economic and cultural ties between Pakistan and Bangladesh.

He made these comments in a meeting with ICCI President Nasir Mansoor Qureshi, emphasizing the importance of increasing business partnerships between both countries.

Relations between Islamabad and Dhaka have undergone a sea change since the ouster of the former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year. Hasina, who had very close ties with India, fled to India in August 2024 after a student-led revolution ousted her from power.

Since the fall of Hasina, anti-Pakistanis in Bangladesh has risen, and the period from 2008, when she came to power, to the 2024 uprising has seen an unprecedented decline in bilateral relations.

Indeed, last month, the interim leader of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and they agreed to improve bilateral relations.

The high commissioner from Bangladesh has advised that cargo flights between Dhaka, Karachi, and Lahore will soon be introduced, which will further enhance trade and business between both countries.

He also noted that it was now quite easy for Pakistani citizens to obtain Bangladeshi visas online, facilitating exchanges between the business communities of the two countries.

Khan advocated joint ventures and industrial collaboration as beneficial opportunities for both countries toward achieving better trade relations. He pointed out that Pakistan has a selection of traded commodities, which also include sugar, steel, surgical instruments, cement, dry fruits, and pink rock salt, dairy, marble, and coal, that it exports to Bangladesh.

In exchange, Pakistan can import tea and jute from Bangladesh, resulting in mutual trade efficiency.