By Shumaila Andleeb
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Sep 17 (APP): President Mamnoon
Hussain on Sunday said Pakistan offered excellent opportunities
to Tajikistan for its imports and exports through Gwadar port
and invited the country to benefit from the trade route of China
Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The President in a meeting with Tajikistan’s President
Emomali Rahmon, hoped that the legal process for Tajikistan’s
entry into Quadrilateral Traffic-in-Transit Agreement (QTTA)
would provide the Central Asian country a legal framework to
access Pakistani seaports through CPEC.
The QTTA is a transit trade deal between China, Pakistan,
Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan with a road project under the umbrella
of CPEC.
The two leaders, who met here in the Turkmenistan’s
capital on the sidelines of 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts
Games (AIMAG), discussed cooperation in energy sector, regional
connectivity and trade.
President Mamnoon said Pakistan attached great priority
to the timely completion of CASA-1000 (Central Asia South Asia)
by 2018 and looked forward to importing electricity from
Tajikistan.
He called for expediting the implementation phase of
CASA-1000 and initiating physical work on the flagship project
for its timely completion.
President Mamnoon Hussain said Pakistan attached great
importance to its relations with the Central Asian countries
particularly Tajikistan as the two countries enjoyed fraternal
ties, shared common goals of peace and prosperity for their
peoples and the region as a whole.
He stressed the need to finalize the Bilateral Transit
Trade Agreement, which he said would create a win-win situation
by creating road links between Pakistan and Tajikistan.
President Mamnoon said bilateral trade between Pakistan
and Tajikistan was highest among the Central Asian countries
and emphasized on tapping its true potential.
He mentioned that three Pakistani Trade Exhibitions had
been organized in Dushanbe since October 2015 besides holding
of two business forums, the latest one in May 2017.
President Mamnoon apprised his Tajik counterpart that
Pakistan was holding tenth Edition of Expo Pakistan this
November and suggested that Tajikistan could send a trade
delegation to Expo Pakistan, to which President Emomali Rahmon
agreed to.
He said Tajikistan was a gateway to Central Asian
countries and emphasized that establishment of air and road
links would promote bilateral trade and tourism.
He said resumption of direct air link between two
countries in May 2016 was a big step forward and stressed the
need for resumption of flights by Tajikistan’s Somon Air which
had been suspended within three months of its launch.
President Emomali said Tajikistan and Pakistan were
celebrating 25 years of their diplomatic relations and
mentioned that the bilateral accords signed in last four
years had enriched the legal framework of relations.
He agreed to give directive to his government for
resumption of Somon Air flights to Pakistan.
He thanked Pakistan for providing counter-terrorism
training to Tajikistan’s defence, security and police
officials that helped improve their professional capacity.
He said though the trade volume between Pakistan and
Tajikistan was the highest among all Central Asian states,
but he emphasized to further boost it.
President Emomali extended an invitation to President
Mamnoon to visit Tajikistan in future, which was accepted by
him.
Minister of State for Petroleum Jam Kamal and Pakistan’s
ambassador to Turkmenistan Murad Ashraf Jamal were present in
the meeting.
