"It takes two to tango": Pakistan Dy PM Ishaq Dar urges India to improve relations

Speaking about Pakistan's trade ties with India, Dar emphasised the need to create an environment to help improve the relations.

Ishaq Dar's remark came in a press conference where he was giving a round-up on government efforts to bring economic stability and enhance Pakistan's diplomatic ties.

Notably, Pakistan's economy has been in dire condition following the devastating floods in 2022, high inflation, and political instability alongside structural issues, have led to multiple crises related to meeting the food and energy needs of the population.

Pakistan has had to frequently approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or friendly countries like Saudi Arabia and China for billions of dollars in loans. With the pause in trade with India, importing goods from faraway countries further depletes its low foreign exchange reserves.

Earlier, Bangladesh Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus met Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif in Cairo, on the sidelines of D-8 summit on December 19 and agreed to strengthen the bilateral ties.

Mohammad Yunus in a facebook post informed about their meeting, saying that they agreed to "strengthen relations between the two countries through increased trade, commerce, and exchange of sports and cultural delegations."

Ishaq Dar and Yunus's Special Envoy Lutfey Siddiqi, were among others present on the occasion.

Yunus in his post informed that Siddiqi invited Pakistan foreign minister Dar to visit Bangladesh in February on his way to a Malaysia tour, and he accepted the offer.

Yunus and Sharif also discussed issues of mutual interest, including the revival of the SAARC--a key feature of the foreign policy announced by the Chief Adviser after he took over as the head of the Interim Government.

Yunus also urged Pakistan to settle the issues of 1971 to help Dhaka move forward with its relationship with Islamabad.

"The issues have kept coming again and again. Let's settle those issues for us to move forward," Yunus told Sharif.

Yunus said it would be nice to resolve things "once and for all for the future generations."

Pakistan PM also reassured to strengthen the ties between both countries, "We are really looking forward to strengthening our relationship with our brother-in-country Bangladesh," Sharif said as mentioned in the post by Yunus. (ANI)