Pakistan offers Bangladesh help on energy security, fuel supply

Pakistan has offered to share its experience of handling fuel supply disruption with Bangladesh after Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik met Bangladesh's Adviser on Finance Rashid Al Mehmood Titumir on Tuesday.

An official press release said the two discussed the impact of disruption in global energy markets and ways to keep fuel supplies uninterrupted. Malik called the situation an unprecedented energy crisis and said preparedness, diversification and regional cooperation were needed. He listed government measures including targeted fuel subsidies intended to give consumers relief while limiting the economic cost.

Titumir set out Bangladesh's measures to protect fuel security and said the crisis had made energy security a central concern for policymakers. He called for diversifying energy sources and supply routes so that countries depended less on supply chains that can be disrupted.

The press release said Titumir appreciated Pakistan's diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions involving Iran, saying regional stability was needed to protect the global economy and energy markets. He acknowledged Pakistan's efforts to secure liquefied natural gas cargoes from Qatar through the Strait of Hormuz in difficult circumstances.

Malik said Islamabad was willing to share its policy lessons with Dhaka to strengthen Bangladesh's energy security. Both sides agreed to continue engaging on the issue.

Separately, Minute Mirror reported that Titumir called for a new development framework for South Asia at the annual Sustainable Development Policy Conference a day earlier, proposing a five-point strategy covering fiscal reforms, industrial transformation, regional production networks, human development and multilateral cooperation. He argued that traditional fiscal consolidation should be reconsidered and that governments must keep the ability to invest in long-term development. He also called for a shift from efficiency-driven economic policy to resilience-based development, and for cooperation between South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa on production networks spanning raw materials, intermediate goods and finished products.

Climate Change Minister Dr Musadik Malik said separately that debt-driven growth was a concern because debt servicing consumed nearly half of the country's revenues, according to the same report.