Direct trade between Bangladesh and Pakistan has resumed after a long five decades.
The first government-to-government cargo shipment has already set sail from Pakistan's Port Qasim. It will reach Bangladesh on March 4, reports Pakistani media outlet Express Tribune.
The media outlet says that the first government-to-government cargo ship (bound for Bangladesh) set sail from Port Qasim on Saturday. With this major development, direct trade between Pakistan and Bangladesh has resumed after five decades.
Pakistan National Shipping Corporation's (PNSC) bulk carrier MV CB is carrying 26,000 tonnes of rice to Bangladesh. The ship is scheduled to arrive in Chittagong on March 4. This is the first instance of formal resumption of trade relations between the two countries since 1971.
Earlier, an agreement was finalized in early February this year. Under this, Bangladesh will import 50,000 tonnes of rice from Pakistan through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP). This consignment of import will reach Bangladesh in two phases, half of which has already been sent and the remaining 25,000 tonnes will be sent in early March.
The autocrat Sheikh Hasina fell on August 5 last year in the face of a mass uprising by students and the public. After Hasina's fall and her fleeing from the country to India, relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan have warmed and commercial and diplomatic closeness has been intensified.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
