"Pakistani businesses are most welcome to invest in Bangladesh where they would be among friends," he said while speaking to electronic and print media at a Karachi hotel in Pakistan on Saturday, according to a message received in Dhaka on Sunday.

The foreign adviser, who was passing through the port city on his way back from attending the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad, described Bangladesh-Pakistan relations as "close, brotherly and friendly".

He said during his present visit, he had bilateral discussions with his Pakistani counterpart Khaurshid Kasuri, which was "a follow-up on the useful talks between Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed in Delhi during the Saarc Summit".

The adviser said that during his meeting with the Pakistani foreign minister, they agreed to "either build anew or strengthen the existing mechanisms to take Bangladesh-Pakistan cooperation forward in a mutually beneficial manner".