The government has approved a draft deal for signing with Pakistan, allowing visa-free travel for holders of diplomatic and official passports between the two countries.
The draft was approved ahead of a bilateral meeting between the two countries in Dhaka next week.
A draft agreement on visa exemption was endorsed at the weekly meeting of the advisory council on Thursday, with chief adviser professor Muhammad Yunus as the chair at his Tejgaon office in the city.
The agreement is set to be signed in a bilateral meeting in Dhaka between the Bangladesh foreign affairs adviser and his Pakistani counterpart on August 24, officials said.
Both Dhaka and Islamabad have appeared keen on enhancing their bilateral relations after Bangladesh鈥檚 interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus took over in the past year following the fall of Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India on August 5, 2024 amid a student-led mass uprising bringing an end to her 15-year autocratic regime.
Briefing the media at the Foreign Service Academy after the meeting, the chief adviser鈥檚 press secretary Shafiqul Alam said that the visa-free arrangement would initially be effective for five years.
He also said that Bangladesh had already similar agreements with 31 countries, including India. 鈥楾he government of Pakistan has also consented to this agreement. The facility will apply only to holders of diplomatic and official passports,鈥� the press secretary added.
Meanwhile, Pakistan鈥檚 deputy prime minister and foreign minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar is rescheduled to arrive in Dhaka on August 23 on a two-day visit.
His previous schedule to visit Bangladesh on April 27-28 was cancelled amid escalating tension between Islamabad and New Delhi over a deadly attack in India-administered Kashmir.
The visit was officially announced after the sixth Foreign Office Consultation between Bangladesh and Pakistan in Dhaka on April 17, after 15 years.
Pakistan foreign secretary Amna Baloch led the Pakistan side in the foreign secretary-level meeting with her then Bangladesh counterpart Md Jasim Uddin at the State Guest House Padma in the city.
In the meeting, Dhaka once again called for a formal apology for the atrocities perpetrated by the Pakistani occupation forces during the War of Independence in 1971 and the return of Bangladesh鈥檚 due share of its pre-independence assets and foreign aid.
Besides discussions on further cooperation in trade, connectivity and other areas, it also demanded repatriation of more than 3.2 lakh stranded Pakistanis living in 27 camps in 14 districts of Bangladesh since its independence.