ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday stressed the need to enhance cooperation in trade and tourism with Bangladesh, the Pakistani foreign office said, as Dhaka and Islamabad attempt to forge closer ties amid improving bilateral relations. 

Pakistan and Bangladesh have improved their strained ties since August last year after former premier Sheikh Hasina fled to India, forced by a violent student-led protest. Pakistan and Bangladesh were once one nation but split in a brutal 1971 war, with Bangladesh drawing closer to India. 

Bangladesh’s High Commissioner Iqbal Hussain Khan met Dar, who also serves as Pakistan’s foreign minister, in Islamabad to discuss bilateral ties, the Pakistani foreign office said. 

“Appreciating the positive trajectory of bilateral ties, he [Dar] emphasized the need to further expand cooperation- especially in trade, tourism, & people-to-people exchanges,” the foreign office said. 

In February this month, Bangladesh and Pakistan started direct government-to-government trade with Dhaka importing 50,000 tons of rice from Islamabad, a sign of improving relations between the two. 

Direct private trade between the countries restarted in November 2024, when a container ship sailed from Pakistan’s Karachi to Bangladesh’s Chittagong. It was the first cargo ship in decades to sail directly between the two nations. 

In recent months, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus have met on the sidelines of international forums, including the United Nations General Assembly in New York and the D-8 Summit in Cairo.

These interactions have been described as cordial, with both leaders expressing a desire to deepen bilateral cooperation.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates expressed deep concern over Israel’s escalating war with Iran, the foreign office said on Tuesday, as US President Donald Trump said he wanted a “real end” to Iran’s nuclear program and warned of potential new developments in the coming days.

The exchange between Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and his UAE counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, took place over a phone call, according to the official intimation.

The war between Iran and US ally Israel, which began on Friday when Israel launched airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military facilities, has alarmed a region already on edge since Israel’s military assault on Gaza began in October 2023.

Iran launched its own retaliatory missile attacks, targeting dozens of strategic sites in Israel, as civilian casualties mounted on both sides. There has been no sign of de-escalation so far, with both sides continuing to strike military and economic targets, raising fears of a wider regional conflict.

“Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar received a call from the Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister of UAE, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan,” the foreign office of Pakistan said in a social media post.

“The two leaders discussed the evolving regional situation in the wake of Israel’s military strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” it added. “They expressed deep concern over the escalating tensions and underscored the urgent need to support efforts for ensuring regional peace and stability.”

Earlier, Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning from a Group of Seven summit in Canada.

He said he may send US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff or Vice President JD Vance to Iran for talks, but added, “it depends on what happens when I get back.”

“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, it’s very simple,” he continued, adding that he wanted a “real end” to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, with Tehran “giving up entirely” on any weapons program.

The US president also warned residents in Tehran to evacuate amid fears of further escalation, but remained vague about Israel’s next steps in the conflict.

“You’re going to find out over the next two days,” he said. “Nobody’s slowed up so far.”

With input from Reuters