PM, Tajik President hold one-on-one meeting

DUSHANBE (Tajikistan), July 5 (APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz
Sharif and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon on Wednesday held one-on-one meeting here and stressed close collaboration between the two countries in trade, energy and defence sectors.
In a meeting held here at the Palace of Nation, the two leaders
emphasized on tapping the opportunity to translate their close political ties into strategic cooperation.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Emomali expressed
satisfaction that Pakistan and Tajikistan were celebrating 25 years of their friendship.
The Prime Minister expressed gratitude to Tajik President for the
support extended to Pakistan in getting membership of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
He said Pakistan viewed with admiration the laudable socio-economic
development and progress achieved under President Rahmon’s leadership.
He said there existed huge potential of cooperation between Pakistan
and Tajikistan in diverse fields and stressed increase of bilateral trade volume upto Rs 500 million.
He mentioned that Pakistan held three trade exhibitions in Dushanbe in
2015 besides a Business Forum in 2017.
Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan gave utmost importance to CASA-1000
electricity project which would increase regional cooperation.
He said the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would boost
regional connectivity and highlighted that the Traffic Transit agreement of Tajikistan with Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan would be beneficial in this regard.
He mentioned that Pakistan’s coastal city Gwadar could provide a good
trade route for Tajikistan.
Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan gave immense sacrifices in fight against
terrorism and extremism and mentioned that Raddul Fasaad and Zarb-e-Azb were launched as counter-terror operations.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan wanted to resolve the issue
of Kashmir with India through peaceful means.
He called upon international community to reject Indian policies on
Kashmir.
He said peace and stability in Afghanistan was in the interest of
Pakistan.
The two sides also identified the need for increased cooperation in
agriculture, industry, education and culture.
Later the two leaders were joined by their aides for a
delegation-level meeting at the presidential palace.