Pakistan offers shortest sea, land, aerial link to CARs for trade

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwalla on Wednesday said that Pakistan offered the shortest route through sea, land and aerial link for trade and economic activities to the Central Asian States and there was a need to chalk out a mechanism to boost trade and business cooperation between CARs and Pakistan utilising all the viable options of connectivity.

Deputy Chairman Senate expressed these views during a meeting with Atadjan Movlamov, the Ambassador of Turkmenistan at the Parliament House. He said that Pakistan valued its relations with CARs and particularly Turkmenistan and desired to expand these relations at bilateral and multilateral levels.

He added that leadership of the two sides had always placed bilateral relations at high esteem and therefore steps need to be taken to bring people of the two sides closer.

Mandviwalla pointed out that there was huge potential for enhancing trade and in this regard business communities of the two sides needed to be connected. He proposed organising investment conferences between Pakistan and Turkmenistan and emphasized that TDAP and BOI must take practical steps to engage business communities of the two countries.

He said that Islamabad and Ashgabat had initiated some important projects. TAPI and TAP projects needed to be expedited to overcome the energy crisis. Mandviwalla also proposed direct flights between Pakistan and Turkmenistan as such an initiative would give boost trade and tourism sectors. He said that investors could explore the possibilities of investment and initiate joint ventures in different sectors.

Mandviwalla was flanked by Senator Kalsoom Parveen, Convener of Pakistan-Turkmenistan Friendship Group in the Senate. Both Mandviwalla and Senator Kalsoom Parveen stressed the need for enhancing parliamentary cooperation and bilateral institutional linkages.

Senator Kalsoom said that Turkmenistan was an important country and the friendship groups can play a vital role in boosting cooperation and promote people to people contacts. Senator Saleem Mandviwalla called upon the friendship group to hold frequent meetings and explore ways and means to further boost cooperation.

Ambassador of Turkmenistan said that Pakistan was an important country and the government of Turkmenistan wanted to further deepen the bond of friendship between the two countries. He said that both sides were working closely on different projects.

He agreed with the views of Deputy Chairman Senate to enhance trade and business cooperation for mutual benefit of the two sides. He said that steps are being taken to encourage more exchanges at business and trade levels. He thanked the Deputy Chairman Senate for his candid views to boost bilateral cooperation and enhance parliamentary exchanges.

In a separate meeting with Akan Rekhmetullin, Ambassador of Kazakhstan, Deputy Chairman Senate underscored the need for enhancing trade and investment between Pakistan and Kazakhstan for mutual benefit of the people of two sides. Deputy Chairman Senate observed that it was in the interest of both the countries to have a proper channel for bilateral trade and investment.