Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday extended well wishes to Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus after he was sworn in as chief advisor for Bangladesh's interim government.
In a post on X, Shehbaz, 72, expressed his hopes to "deepen cooperation" between Pakistan and Bangladesh under the leadership of Yunus, 84.
Yunus was chosen to lead the South Asian country's interim government by a student-led movement which was involved inviolent protests that led to the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina who resigned and fled the country earlier this week.
The protests resulted in the tragic loss of over 400 lives, primarily young students.
In his post on X, Shehbaz wrote: "Heartiest felicitations to Professor Muhammad Yunus on his swearing-in as Chief Adviser of the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh.
"Wishing him great success in guiding Bangladesh towards a harmonious and prosperous future. I look forward to working with him to deepen cooperation between Pakistan and Bangladesh in the days ahead."
Yunus, who was previously in Paris for medical treatment, returned to his home town on Thursday after Bangladesh's after student protesters backed him for the role in a government tasked with holding elections for a new leader.
Yunus, a staunch critic of Hasina, is known as "banker to the poor" and received the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for founding a bank that pioneered the fight on poverty through small loans to needy borrowers.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, Pakistan and Bangladesh established diplomatic relations in December 1975.
Bangladesh remains Pakistan's largest trading partner in South Asia as volume of bilateral tradehovers, annually, around $800 to $900 million.
Pakistan hosts a large number of the people of Bengali origin. Owing to shared history and common faith, the people-to-people relations are of fraternity and goodwill.
Pakistan and Bangladesh have institutionalised mechanisms of dialogue such as Bilateral Political Consultations and Joint Economic Commission. They also cooperate on various multilateral fora, including United Nations and Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Senior US official underscores increasing concern within Pentagon over action against civilian employees
Delegates hope to resolve summit's top agenda for developing countries
Those responsible for indiscriminate killings will be brought back from wherever they have taken refuge, says official
Iran has always denied having ambitions to develop nuclear weapon
Cairo’s historic cemetery witnesses demolition and displacing families, altering city’s heritage
US Fed has dual mandate from Congress to act independently to tackle both inflation and unemployment
