Afghan peace, development Pakistan’s top priority: Dar

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said Pakistan is committed to developing a strong partnership with Afghanistan with increased road, railways connectivity and an emphasis on energy projects.
During a telephonic conversation with his Afghan counterpart Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal on Sunday, the finance minister said Pakistan attached top priority to realisation of peace and economic development in Afghanistan and the economic projects it had undertaken to reflect the government’s due care for the Afghan brethren.
He said senior officials in the concerned ministries had been assigned the task to ensure implementation of decisions taken during the Afghan president’s visit. Considerable progress, as also acknowledged by Zakhilwal, had been made for transit trade facilitation, Dar added.
The finance minister made a special mention of the Torkham-Jalalabad Highway for which funds had already been released. He added that the Rehman Baba School Boys’ Hostel would be completed by May this year. He specially referred to the CASA-1000, Tapi and other investment ventures.
The minister said that he eagerly looked forward to the Afghan government’s response on Afpak-PTA and draft trilateral agreement on transit trade between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan.
Omar Zakhilwal made the phone call acknowledging all efforts for improve the Pak-Afghan economic cooperation, particularly in the backdrop of the Afghan president’s visit to Pakistan and the APTTCA on 1st and 2nd January in Islamabad. He also conveyed President Ashraf Ghani’s appreciation and warm regards to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Finance Minister Dar.