Bangladesh to witness high-profile visits from US and Pakistan this month

US Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs (SCA) Nicole Ann Chulick and Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Andrew R. Herrup will visit Bangladesh next week.

“There will be discussions on all aspects of relations with the United States,” Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain told reporters while responding to a question regarding the visit.

He also confirmed that Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will pay an official visit this month and the exact date will be finalised within a couple of days.

“It has been finalised that he will come. However, there is a little fluidity about the date. But I think we will be able to finalise it within the next couple of days,” he said while talking to reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Asked about the issues to be discussed during the visit, Hossain said they will discuss all aspects of the relations.

Before Ishaq Dar’s visit, its Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch will visit Dhaka in the third week of April to hold talks with her Bangladesh counterpart Md Jashim Uddin.

Ishaq Dar’s upcoming trip to Dhaka will mark the first visit by a Pakistani Foreign Minister since 2012.

Under the previous government, Bangladesh had repeatedly urged Pakistan to issue a formal public apology for the atrocities committed against unarmed Bangladeshis in 1971.

In February 2023, Dhaka conveyed the same message to former Pakistani State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar during a meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka.