By Pervaiz Mughal
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Thursday received a delegation of senior Bangladeshi civil servants at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad, in what officials described as a notable step forward in efforts to rebuild institutional ties between the two countries after decades of limited structured engagement.
The delegation’s visit, taking place under the Pakistan–Bangladesh Knowledge Corridor initiative, formed part of a three-week executive development programme at the Civil Services Academy in Lahore. Officials said the exchange marked the first structured visit of its kind in 53 years, underscoring a slow but deliberate attempt to revive bureaucratic and educational linkages between Islamabad and Dhaka.
During the meeting, Ishaq Dar welcomed the visiting officials and framed the programme as part of a broader trajectory of renewed engagement. He observed that the initiative reflected what he described as “growing momentum” in bilateral relations and stressed the need for consistent leadership-level dialogue alongside stronger institutional and people-to-people connections.
The Knowledge Corridor initiative itself was launched during the Deputy Prime Minister’s visit to Dhaka in August 2025, when he announced a commitment to provide 500 scholarships to Bangladeshi students over a five-year period. According to official figures, 74 Bangladeshi students are already studying in Pakistan under the scheme, reflecting what Pakistani authorities have presented as an expanding educational partnership.
Officials at the Foreign Office said the civil servants’ programme in Lahore was designed to expose participants to administrative practices, governance frameworks and public sector training models in Pakistan, with the expectation that such exchanges could contribute to longer-term cooperation in civil service capacity-building.
