Tajikistan calls for trade corridor to access Gwadar, Karachi ports

ISLAMABAD: Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon on Wednesday expressed his country’s interest to access Pakistan’s Gwadar and Karachi seaports as the “shortest trade route” for the landlocked Central Asian state to connect with the region.

The Tajik president, in this regard, supported establishment of a “trade corridor” passing through Pakistan, as he addressed at a joint press stakeout along with Prime Minister Imran Khan here at the Prime Minister House.

The two leaders, who earlier held wide-ranging discussions on diverse areas of cooperation, expressed willingness to further strengthen the bilateral multifaceted ties.

President Rahmon stressed “full-fledged cooperation” between Tajikistan and Pakistan to manage energy and water resources and also tapping the potential of Central Asia-South Asia (CASA-1000) power project.

He termed Pakistan a “reliable and trustworthy partner” of Tajikistan at international stage, where the two countries had similarity of agenda to pursue a mutually beneficial cooperation.

He mentioned that his talks with Prime Minister Khan were focused on inter-governmental cooperation in the fields of economy, parliaments, energy, agriculture, healthcare and Covid-19 situation.

Prime Minister Khan mentioned the positive discussions held with President Rahmon in areas of trade, defence production, climate change and common challenges including post-troops withdrawal scenario in Afghanistan. Earlier, Pakistan and Tajikistan entered into 12 agreements for cooperation in diverse fields—including trade, anti-corruption, infrastructure, education and culture.

President Rahmon and Prime Minister Khan witnessed the signing ceremony as the representatives from the two sides signed the agreements and the Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs).

The two leaders on the occasion also signed a Joint Declaration encompassing details of discussions taken place during the visit of President Rahmon. The agreements and MoUs signed for cooperation in different areas include cooperation between the chambers of Commerce and Industry of Tajikistan and Quetta, Sialkot and Lahore. Besides, academic agreements were inked between Tajik Technical University named after academician M S Osimi and Indus University of Pakistan; Tajik Institute of Languages, Dushanbe, and National University of Modern Languages, Karachi; and Technological University of Tajikistan and COMSATS University, Islamabad.

On corruption and emergency situations, an MoU was signed between Tajikistan’s Agency for State Financial Control and Struggle against Corruption and Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau. The two countries also signed agreement for cooperation in the field of prevention and liquidation of emergency situations. Similarly, the two governments inked agreements on art and culture, and bilateral and regional cooperation. An agreement was also signed for cooperation programme between the ministries of Foreign Affairs of the two countries. Another agreement was inked on international road transport. A Joint Declaration was also signed on “Next steps in building strategic partnership for regional solidarity and integration”.