PM offers Tajikistan Pakistani seaports for trade

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Wednesday offered Tajikistan to use Pakistani seaports for import and export, saying our seaports provide the shortest route to sea.

Nawaz, who is in Dushanbe to attend the launching ceremony of CASA-1000 project on Thursday (today), held delegation-level talks with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon.

Talking to the Tajik president, Nawaz said that Pakistan attaches great importance to its relations with Central Asia in general and Tajikistan in particular, adding that CASA-1000 would prove a significant milestone for Pakistan to minimise its electricity shortage.

Both leaders agreed that connectivity was the key to regional integration and expressed satisfaction over the recent launch of direct flights of Tajikistan’s Somon Air from Lahore to Dushanbe.

Nawaz said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would provide new opportunities for enhanced connectivity and integration from Gwadar to Kashgar, besides providing a road link with Tajikistan through Murghab and other Central Asian states.

He said Pakistan attached great importance to security cooperation with Tajikistan, and proposed sharing of experiences on counter-terrorism, anti-narcotics, controlling human trafficking and border control practices.

President Rahmon welcomed the development of the economic corridor project, which will also facilitate connectivity between Pakistan and Tajikistan and other Central Asian states.

He acknowledged Pakistan’s support to the request by Tajikistan to accede to the Quadrilateral Agreement on Traffic in Transit among China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan.

The delegation-level meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi, Secretary for Water and Power Younus Dhaga and Pakistan’s Ambassador to Tajikistan Tariq Iqbal Soomro.