Kazakh Envoy For Direct Flights Between Pakistan, Kazakhstan

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Oct, 2021 ) :Kazakh Ambassador to Pakistan Yerzhan Kistafin on Saturday proposed direct flights between Pakistan and Kazakhstan to enhance business, academic and cultural cooperation between the two countries.

In an exclusive interview with news and Current Affairs Channel of Radio Pakistan, the envoy said Pakistan and Kazakhstan have been enjoying exemplary diplomatic relations which could be extended to new areas of cooperation.

Both the countries were striving to enhance cooperation in diverse sectors that would help achieving regional connectivity, he added.

He said both the states had robust political dialogue that also needed to reflect in bilateral trade and commercial ties.

The ambassador said the last session of Pakistan-Kazakh Inter-Governmental Commission was held in Islamabad in February last year in which it was agreed to establish three working groups on economic cooperation, energy cooperation and cooperation in regional connectivity.

He underlined the need to focus on their transport and logistics issues as well as economic cooperation. State agencies of both countries should work together to address issues and challenges in the bilateral economic cooperation, he added.

Yerzhan Kistafin said he had held fruitful meetings with representatives of Pakistani business community including those of FPCCI to explore the potential of increasing bilateral trade.

Referring to situation in Afghanistan, the Kazakh ambassador said Kazakhstan was the biggest landlocked country in the world and they understood the importance of regional connectivity.

He said Afghanistan could be the most beneficial country if trade increased between Pakistan and Kazakhstan.

He said Afghanistan could serve as a regional transit hub between Central and South Asia if peace and stability came in the country.

Elaborating further, the ambassador said special representative of Kazakhstan visited Kabul recently and held talks with current government in Afghanistan.

He said Kazakhstan discussed restoring trade and economic cooperation with Afghanistan for the mutual benefit of both the countries.

On trade between Kazakhstan and Pakistan, Yerzhan Kistafin said bilateral trade volume stood at 45 million Dollars last year.

He said there was a need to establish cooperation between custom services of both Pakistan and Kazakhstan to remove hiccups in trade.

The Kazakh ambassador said apart from Afghanistan there were also other routes for trade between the two countries.

He said Karakorum Highway was the shortest route to Central Asia from Pakistan, but due to harsh climate in winter it was impractical to use.

Another option, he said, was the route of Khunjerab Pass through which trade supplies could reach to Western parts of Kazakhstan.

When asked about the rich hydro carbon reserves of Kazakhstan and possible cooperation with Pakistan in this sector, the Kazakh ambassador said the joint energy group on cooperation was working on it and exploring new ways.

He said investment by Kazakh investors into Pakistan was also being considered. He said Pakistan was a very promising market due to its large population and it is attractive to foreign investors.

Referring to Shanghai Cooperation Organization, he said last month summit of SCO countries was held in Dushanbe in which Kazakh President emphasized on wider regional cooperation.

Regarding security cooperation between Islamabad and Astana, he said ministries of defense of both countries enjoyed strong ties. Cooperation between defense universities of both countries as well as in other areas was also increasing.

Terming terrorism as a challenging threat, the Kazakh ambassador said it was difficult to address the issue alone and needed a collective approach. In that area, SCO could help them a lot in stemming this scourge through joint collaboration.

Pointing to increased potential of people to people cooperation between Kazakhstan and Pakistan, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan discussed bilateral agenda and economic cooperation during meeting with Kazakhstan President in Dushanbe.

The Kazakh ambassador said three pillars to this effect were increasing direct ties between universities of both countries, stimulating direct ties between think tanks of the two countries, and enhancing cooperation between mass media of the two countries for exchange of information.

Exchange of tv programs could enhance cultural cooperation between the two countries to get to know each other's traditions, festivals and cultures.

Yerzhan Kistafin said Kazakhstan and Pakistan were enhancing cooperation in the area of science and technology.

He mentioned direct communication between Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad and Kazakh British Technical University.

Similarly, he said, Pakistan's National University of Modern Languages and Kazakh National University were working together on different projects relating to exchange of students and learning each other's language.