Pakistan, Bangladesh revive direct trade ties

DHAKA: Pakistan and Bangladesh have launched direct government-to-government trade for the first time in decades, marking a significant step in their historically troubled relations.

The government of Bangladesh on Tuesday confirmed the import of 50,000 tonnes of rice, which follows months after former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted during August 2024 revolution and fled to India, evading extradition charges of crime against humanity.

Since her departure, relations between India and Bangladesh’s new government have soured, paving the way for Islamabad and Dhaka to mend their ties.

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

“For the first time we are importing 50,000 tonnes of rice from Pakistan, and it is the first government-to-government deal between the two countries,” said Ziauddin Ahmed, a senior food ministry official in Dhaka, on Tuesday.

Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Food signed a memorandum of understanding with the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) in January for rice imports.

Ahmed said trade with Pakistan offers a “new avenue of sourcing and competitive pricing”, with state authorities in recent years importing the staple from India, Thailand and Vietnam.

Imports are critical to low-lying Bangladesh, a nation that is among the world’s most vulnerable to climate change, with large areas made up of deltas where the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers wind towards the sea.

The country of 170 million is particularly at risk of devastating floods and cyclones — disasters that only stand to accelerate as the planet keeps warming.

Private Bangladeshi companies have imported Pakistani rice for years, but Pakistani goods previously had to be off-loaded onto feeder vessels — usually in Sri Lanka, Malaysia or Singapore — before travelling on.