On August 23, 2025, Ishaq Dar, the foreign minister and deputy prime minister of Pakistan, will travel to Dhaka, Bangladesh, for a two-day visit with the goal of enhancing bilateral ties between the two nations.
This visit comes after Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch visited Dhaka in April 2025, signaling the restart of diplomatic relations following almost a decade and a half of tense tensions. Due to increased tensions between India and Pakistan after a terrorist assault in Pahalgam in April, Ishaq Dar’s travel was postponed from its intended April 27 date.
Dar is anticipated to have official bilateral discussions with Foreign Affairs Advisor Touhid Hossain and meet with Bangladesh’s Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus while he is there. A number of bilateral cooperation-related topics are on the agenda, including unsolved concerns from the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, such as Bangladesh’s demand that Pakistan issue a formal apology for wartime atrocities.
There will probably be discussions about other long-standing issues like the distribution of pre-independence assets and the repatriation of Pakistanis who are stranded in Bangladesh.
The discussions will address these delicate historical concerns as well as improving connectivity, trade cooperation, cultural exchanges, and coordination of regional and global trends. Memorandums of understanding, particularly those pertaining to collaboration between cultural exchange programs and foreign service academies, are among the agreements that are anticipated to be signed.
Recent events have resulted in increased communication between the two nations; maritime services between Chittagong and Karachi have restarted, and visa restrictions placed on Pakistani nationals under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have been loosened.
This visit coincides with a broader expansion of diplomatic and economic relations in the wake of Bangladesh’s political transformation following the August 2024 student-led rebellion that resulted in Sheikh Hasina’s overthrow.
Simultaneously, Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb is anticipated to travel to Dhaka later this year for the Joint Economic Commission meeting, indicating multi-level engagement in the bilateral relationship, and Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan is scheduled to visit the country for four days on August 21 with the goal of strengthening trade ties.
In the meantime, during Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus’s national address commemorating the anniversary of the uprising that resulted in a change in the country’s leadership, the interim government of Bangladesh declared that the next general election would take place in February 2026. This is a significant political milestone. In light of shifting regional circumstances, this provides a more comprehensive political framework for Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts in Bangladesh.
