Bangladesh and Pakistan begin direct trade with import of rice

Bangladesh and Pakistan resume government-to-government trade, marking a new chapter in relations after decades of tension.

“Bangladesh and Pakistan have started direct government-to-government trade after decades of troubled relations with imports of 50,000 tonnes of rice,” Dhaka said Tuesday, February 25, 2025.

The two countries were once one nation but split in a brutal 1971 war, with Bangladesh drawing closer to India.

However, long-time Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in an August 2024 revolution, fleeing by helicopter to her old ally India, where she has defied extradition requests to face charges of crimes against humanity.

Relations between India and Bangladesh's new government have been frosty since then, allowing Islamabad and Dhaka to rebuild ties slowly.

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 countries.

"For the first time we are importing 50,000 tons of rice from Pakistan, and it is the first government-to-government deal between the two countries," Ziauddin Ahmed, a senior official at the food ministry in Dhaka, said Tuesday, February 26, 2025.