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Zardari wants trade and energy corridors with Central Asia

* President stresses early implementation of 1,000-kilometre power transmission line from Tajikistan to Pakistan

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Establishment of trade and energy corridors with Central Asia will further boost commercial ties, not only between Tajikistan and Pakistan but also throughout the region, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday.

The president was talking to Tajikistan National Security State Committee Chairman Colonel General Khayriddin S Abdurahimov.

“Matters pertaining to bilateral relations in the fields of trade and commerce, transportation, infrastructure, energy and security cooperation to fight militancy and terrorism were discussed,” a statement by the Presidency said.

Later, briefing reporters about the meeting, President’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar quoted Zardari as saying Pakistan was so strategically located that it could become a hub of trade and commerce in the region and building trade and energy ties would help in the development of the entire region.

Zardari said rail and road links between the two countries through Afghanistan would open Pakistani seaports giving Tajikistan access to the sea, adding that opening of road links was critical to bringing the countries in the region together and for increasing people-to-people contacts, which would benefit the countries’ economically and socially.

A pre-feasibility study of the 1,300-kilometre long road connecting Pakistan with Tajikistan and central Asia through the Durrah Pass had already been undertaken, the president was quoted as saying.

Transmission line: President Zardari also emphasised early implementation of the 1,000-kilometre-long power transmission line from Tajikistan to Pakistan, known as the Central Asia-South Asia 1000.

He urged initiating a strategic dialogue on regional peace, security and development between the two countries. He said Tajik businessmen and citizens could now visit Pakistan and move freely after completing the usual visa formalities.

Referring to the increasing drug trade in the region, the president said collective measures and joint strategy was required to curb an organised drug trade, which he said was a ready source of funding for terrorists.

President Zardari said the level of trade and economic cooperation between Pakistan and Tajikistan did not do justice to the political relationship between the two countries and there was a need to enhance bilateral economic and trade ties.

The chairman of Tajikistan’s state committee on national security assured President Zardari of his government’s support in curbing drug trade in the region.

He said Tajikistan wanted to enhance bilateral relations with Pakistan in all fields including defence and security.

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