Islamabad, Pakistan (CU)_ Dr. Arif Alvi, President of Pakistan, expressed his interests to strengthen the economic and cultural relations with Bangladesh. The President met Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Imran Ahmed Siddiqui, at Aiwan-e-Sadr, the presidential palace in Islamabad. During a meeting, he said, “Pakistan highly values its ties with Bangladesh and wants to further expand cooperation by using the existing bilateral mechanisms.”
The press statement released by Pakistan High Commission in Bangladesh states that Pakistan values and appreciates its relations with Bangladesh and further intends to strengthen them by the existing bilateral processes such as Political Consultations at the Foreign Secretary Level and the Joint Economic Commission. The President’s statement comes at a time when Bangladesh commemorates its golden jubilee of independence. Bangladesh has planned its 50th anniversary of Independence Day celebrations from March 17 to 27. The celebrations will be attended by the leaders of the country and governments of India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and the Maldives. President Alvi also conveyed his wishes to Bangladesh on its golden anniversary.
During the meeting, Mr. Siddiqui explained President about Pakistan’s efforts to strengthen ties with Bangladesh, which have been strained for years. Multiple bilateral structures exist between Pakistan and Bangladesh, including foreign secretary-level consultations and the Joint Economic Commission, but most have remained under suspension for years. However, foreign secretaries’ conversation that never happened in the past 12 years is expected to resume soon.
President Alvi urged the use of all bilateral mechanisms to strengthen the relations. The president directed High Commissioner Siddiqui to concentrate his efforts on strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries. For the mutual benefit of the two countries, he stressed the importance of improving commercial ties, business-to-business cooperation, and people-to-people communications. President Dr. Alvi also highlighted the importance of strengthening bilateral cooperation in cultural and political exchanges as well as sports.
