Murad wants Iranian companies to launch waste disposal projects in cities

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has expressed the desire that the Iranian firms come to the province and launch projects of solid waste disposal in its cities.

He expressed the desire to this effect on Thursday as an eight-member Iranian delegation led by Iran-Pakistan Friendship Group Chairman Ahmed Amir Abadi Farahani and Iranian Consul General Hassan Nourian called on him at the CM House.

The delegation discussed investment opportunities in Sindh, regional situation and cooperation in the education sector.

The CM said that he had visited Mashhad city in 2019 and found it one of the cleanest cities in the world. “We would appreciate if the Iranian firms working in solid waste management come and work with the Sindh government to launch solid waste management projects in the province,” he said.

To this, the Iranian delegation assured the CM that they would start negotiations with the Sindh investment department to explore opportunities for investment.

Shah said that in the past, Persian was the official language of Sindh. He suggested that a mechanism be evolved to promote Persian in the province.

The meeting also discussed the regional security situation and emphasised the need for promoting peace in the region.

Meanwhile, the Sindh CM in his separate meetings with diplomats of Qatar and Kazakhstan stressed the need for developing close cooperation and coordination among the regional countries so that peace, tranquility, trade and commerce could be promoted in the region, particularly in the aftermath of the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. In his meeting with Qatari Ambassador Sheikh Saoud Abdulrehman Al Thani, Shah said a Qatari company was working on a water supply scheme in Thar. “We want to see more Qatari companies come over and work with the provincial government on their own or on public-private partnership mode,” he said and added that Sindh offered vast investment opportunities in seawater desalination plants, road, energy and various other sectors.

The meeting also discussed the situation in the region in the light of the recent developments in Afghanistan. The ambassador was also accompanied by Qatari Consul General Mishal Mohammed AA Al-Ansari during the meeting.

Discussing investment opportunities with the ambassador of Kazakhstan, Yerzhan Kistafin, the CM said the province of Sindh was producing 70 per cent of natural gas being generated in the country. He added that the Sindh government had its own energy company that also participated in gas projects.

“We would love to work with Kazakhstan’s state and private firms through their personal investment or on public-private partnership mode in gas-related projects of the province,” he said.

The Kazakh ambassador assured the CM that he would ask investors and experts of his country to invest in Sindh in different modes. The ambassador said that his country was launching a direct flight to connect Pakistan and Kazakhstan to facilitate investment and tourism between the two countries.

The CM and Kazakh ambassador agreed on declaring Karachi and a city of Kazakhstan the sister cities. They also agreed on establishing people-to-people contact by exchanging delegations between the two countries so that personal relationships, trade and cultural ties could be strengthened.