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Bangladesh and Pakistan resume talks after 15 years, seek to mend strained ties

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Bangladesh and Pakistan resume talks after 15 years, seek to mend strained ties
News

News

Bangladesh and Pakistan resume talks after 15 years, seek to mend strained ties

2025-04-18 00:41 Last Updated At:08:31

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Foreign ministry officials from Bangladesh's interim government and Pakistan resumed talks on Thursday after a 15-year gap, as the two South Asian Muslim-majority nations attempted to ease strained relations.

Under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in August in a students-led mass uprising, Bangladesh expanded relations with neighboring India in every sector.

But ties with India have become increasingly tense. Bangladesh’s interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, has criticized India for sheltering Hasina in the country and sought her extradition without any positive response from India.

Yunus has meanwhile sought to improve relations with Pakistan, India's rival. In recent months he met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif several times, and a high-level Bangladeshi military delegation made a rare visit to Pakistan in January and held talks with Pakistan’s army chief General Asim Munir. In February, Bangladesh's navy took part in a multinational maritime exercise organized by Pakistan off the Karachi coast.

After Hasina’s exit, Bangladesh and Pakistan resumed direct trading for the first time in years. Direct flights between the countries are expected to resume soon and visa procedures have been eased while India stopped visas for Bangladeshis, except for medical emergencies.

Earlier this month, India cancelled a transshipment facility that allowed Bangladesh to export its primarily garment products to third countries using Indian airports and other Indian infrastructure.

The move is expected to impact Bangladesh’s roughly $39 billion annual readymade garment exports by increasing trade costs with the European Union, Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar. Bangladesh is the world's second largest garment producer after China.

After Thursday's talks in Dhaka between Bangladesh’s Foreign Secretary Jashim Uddin and his Pakistani counterpart, Uddin said Bangladesh raised historically “unsettled issues” with Pakistan, including a formal public apology for atrocities allegedly committed by Pakistani troops in 1971 during Bangladesh's war of independence.

India helped Bangladesh win independence through a nine-month war against then West Pakistan, now Pakistan. Hasina’s Awami League party regularly criticizes Pakistan for alleged atrocities during the war, when Bangladesh says about 3 million people were killed and about 200,000 women were raped by Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan rejects the claims and has never officially apologized.

Local media reported earlier that Yunus' government was preparing to formally raise its demand for $4.52 billion in financial compensation from Pakistan.

Uddin said the issue of the compensation was raised in Thursday’s meeting.

“These issues need to be resolved for having a solid foundation of our relations,” Uddin said Thursday. The two sides also discussed expansion of trade and commerce and increasing cooperation in agriculture and other sectors, he added.

Yunus’ office said in a statement late Thursday that he held a separate meeting with the Pakistani foreign secretary and emphasized “strengthening ties with Pakistan to boost mutual cooperation and explore trade and business potentials.”

“There are certain hurdles. We have to find ways to overcome those and move forward,” Yunus told Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch.

The last such consultation between the two countries was held in Islamabad in 2010 after Hasina came to power in a 2008 election with a landslide victory.

Baloch said Bangladesh and Pakistan must find ways to “harness the potentials between the two countries," the statement said.

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Md. Jashim Uddin, center right, and Pakistan Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch, center left, have a bilateral meeting in Dhaka, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP)

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Md. Jashim Uddin, center right, and Pakistan Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch, center left, have a bilateral meeting in Dhaka, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP)

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Md. Jashim Uddin speaks at a press conference following his bilateral meeting with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Md. Jashim Uddin speaks at a press conference following his bilateral meeting with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Md. Jashim Uddin, second right, speaks at a press conference following his bilateral meeting with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Md. Jashim Uddin, second right, speaks at a press conference following his bilateral meeting with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Md. Jashim Uddin, right, shakes hands with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch as they pose for a photograph during their bilateral meeting in Dhaka, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP)

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Md. Jashim Uddin, right, shakes hands with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch as they pose for a photograph during their bilateral meeting in Dhaka, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP)

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk A/S, maker of blockbuster weight loss drug Wegovy, said Friday its CEO was stepping down by “mutual agreement” with the company's board of directors, citing “recent market challenges” and a steep decline in the company's share price.

Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen's departure comes a week after the company downgraded its sales and profits forecast, and follows a more than 50% decline in the company's shares since mid-2024. Shares had skyrocketed after the introduction of Wegovy and diabetes medicine Ozempic, which are both based on the same basic ingredient, semaglutide.

At the peak, the company's market capitalization - or the combined price of all its shares - exceeded Denmark's annual gross domestic product and made it Europe's most valuable company, a title it has since lost to software maker SAP.

The company said May 7 that Wegovy sales in the U.S. had been undercut by cheaper replica drugs produced by so-called compounding pharmacies using active ingredients of patented drugs in case of shortage. The Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. drug regulator, has said however that the shortages have eased and the replicas will have to cease in the coming months.

The drugs are part of a wave of obesity medications known as GLP-1 receptor agonists that also includes another Novo weight loss drug, Saxenda. They have soared in popularity due to the amount of weight people lose while taking the injections.

On Sunday a study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine showing people lost more weight using competitor drug Zepbound, made by Eli Lilly of Indianapolis. The study, the first head-to-head comparison of the two, was funded by Lilly. Novo Nordisk's share price is down 54% from its peak in June 2024. Its U.S.-listed shares fell another 3% in morning trading Friday.

The company, headquartered in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, praised a “significant growth journey and transformation” led by Jorgensen during his eight years as CEO. He has been with the company since 1991.

“The changes are, however, made in light of the recent market challenges Novo Nordisk has been facing, and the development of the company’s share price since mid-2024,” the company said in a statement. The board and Jorgensen “have jointly concluded that initiating a CEO succession is in the best interest of the company and its shareholders.”

Jorgensen will continue as CEO “for a period” to support a smooth transition.

—-

AP Health Writer Tom Murphy contributed from Indianapolis.

Boxes for the medications Wegovy and Zepbound are arranged for a photograph in California on Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/JoNel Aleccia)

Boxes for the medications Wegovy and Zepbound are arranged for a photograph in California on Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/JoNel Aleccia)

FILE - Novo Nordisk headquarters in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)

FILE - Novo Nordisk headquarters in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)

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