President Highlights Areas Of Cooperation Between Pakistan, Tajikistan

President Dr Arif Alvi Wednesday said Pakistan attached great importance to its relations with Tajikistan based on strong historic, religious and cultural links, and stressed upon further cooperation in diverse fields

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :President Dr Arif Alvi Wednesday said Pakistan attached great importance to its relations with Tajikistan based on strong historic, religious and cultural links, and stressed upon further cooperation in diverse fields.

He said Pakistan and Tajikistan had considerable scope of cooperation in the areas of trade, economy, culture, education and defence, which needed to be further strengthened.

The president was talking to President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, who called on him here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, a press release said.

Talking to the visiting dignitary, the president highlighted Pakistan's "Vision Central Asia", which laid strong emphasis on forging deeper links with the Central Asian states in trade, investment, energy, security and defence, and people-to-people exchanges.

Dr Alvi underlined that Pakistan's main emphasis had shifted from geo-politics to geo-economics, and it was focusing on optimally utilizing its location in that context.

He underscored that the trade authorities and business communities of the two countries needed to collaborate effectively to enhance the volume of existing bilateral trade.

He also emphasised the importance of the early completion of flagship CASA-1000 Transmission Line Project.

The president stressed that Central Asia was an area of special focus for Pakistan, especially for regional connectivity and integration.

In this context, he stressed the importance of peace and stability in Afghanistan achieved through a negotiated political solution.

President Alvi also briefed his Tajik counterpart about the COVID-19 situation in Pakistan, saying the government's successful policy led to containing the disease.

He expressed the hope that the visit would further strengthen the excellent bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries. It was heartening that both sides adopted a Joint Declaration and signed a number of agreements/MoUs (Memorandums of Understanding) today, after the delegation-level talks.

Both the sides reaffirmed the resolve to make coordinated efforts to promote peace and stability in Afghanistan, as a stable and peaceful Afghanistan was essential for the materialization of energy and economic projects between the two countries.

President Alvi congratulated the Tajik president on successfully organizing the 9th Ministerial Conference of Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process in Dushanbe in March 2021.

He also appreciated that a high level parliamentary delegation from Tajikistan was participating in the 2nd General Conference of the Parliamentary Assembly of Economic Cooperation Organization in Islamabad from May 31 to June 03.

The Tajik president said both the countries had huge potential for increasing cooperation in the areas of trade, economy and culture.

He emphasised the need for improving connectivity between the two countries, which would greatly help improve economic relations between them.

The Tajik president thanked the Government of Pakistan for extending a warm welcome and hospitality to him, and the members of his delegation.

He also invited his Pakistani counterpart to visit Tajikistan.