Pakistan signals openness to regional bloc with Bangladesh without India

ISLAMABAD

Pakistan on Thursday signaled openness to forming a regional grouping with Bangladesh after Dhaka’s top foreign affairs adviser said such an alignment was strategically possible without India.

Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain said a day earlier that it “is strategically possible for Bangladesh to join a regional grouping with Pakistan excluding India,” according to state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha.

Asked about Hossain’s comments, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Tahir Hussain Andrabi said Islamabad “believes in multilateralism.”

“Pakistan has an unwavering commitment to multilateralism, and any proposal from Bangladesh would be viewed in the same spirit,” Andrabi told reporters in Islamabad.

Hossain, responding to questions about remarks by Pakistan’s foreign minister last week, said: “It is possible for us (Bangladesh) strategically … (but) it is not possible for Nepal or Bhutan to form a grouping with Pakistan excluding India.”

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said last week that a new trilateral initiative involving Bangladesh, China and Pakistan has begun and could expand to include countries within and beyond the region.

"Earlier this year, Bangladesh, China and Pakistan established a trilateral mechanism to foster mutual collaboration in areas of common interest," Dar said at an event in Islamabad, adding: “There could be groups with variable geometry on issues from economy to technology to connectivity.”

The first trilateral meeting was hosted by China in June in Kunming, with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong representing Beijing. Bangladesh was represented by acting Foreign Secretary Ruhul Alam Siddique, while Additional Secretary Imran Ahmed Siddiqui attended on behalf of Pakistan.

According to a joint statement, the three sides agreed to advance cooperation across multiple sectors and committed to principles of “good-neighborliness, equality and mutual trust, openness and inclusiveness, common development, and win-win cooperation.” The framework, they said, was rooted in “true multilateralism and open regionalism” and “not directed at any third party.”

China and Pakistan are “all-weather strategic cooperative partners,” and Beijing’s ties with Bangladesh have deepened in recent years.

China’s bilateral trade with both Pakistan and Bangladesh stood at around $23 billion last year.