Pakistan and Tajikistan agree to develop energy and corridors
Officials pledge to complete Central Asia-South Asia power project
Islamabad: Pakistan and Tajikistan agreed to develop cooperation in the fields of energy, rail and road connectivity during the official two-day visit of the president of Tajikistan to Islamabad.
During the December 14-15 visit, the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon held comprehensive delegation-level talks with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. He held meetings with Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani.
Pakistani and Tajikistan officials pledged to complete much-discussed Central Asia-South Asia (CASA-1000) power project. During a joint media stakeout with the President of Tajikistan, PM Sharif said that Pakistan desired early completion of the CASA-1000 power project to meet its urgent energy needs. The $1.2 billion power project will facilitate the export of around 1,300 MW of clean hydropower resources generated in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Pakistan through Afghanistan to help meet electricity demand in Pakistan.
PM Sharif also expressed Pakistan’s desire to further strengthen the bilateral cooperation and ties in fields including energy, trade, joint ventures in agriculture and food.
Shehbaz Sharif recalled that Pakistan was among the first countries that established ties with Tajikistan some 30 years ago and since then both countries had been enjoying excellent cordial and friendly ties.
New impetus to bilateral relations
Both sides agreed to further deepen bilateral relationship and further enhance it to strategic cooperation for the mutual benefit of the two countries and peoples with the early finalization of a bilateral strategic partnership agreement.
Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon expressed the optimism that the agreements signed between the two countries would give new impetus to bilateral relations. He said that government-to-government level contacts, security, economic situation, global economic decay, energy and connectivity projects linked to Gwadar port.
The president said that he had a productive exchange with Pakistani prime Minister on CASA-1000, cooperation in agriculture, energy connectivity, joint ventures in food technology, trade, science and technology and cooperation between the business communities of the two countries. The two sides also expressed satisfaction over cooperation in security and discussed joint collaboration to tackle extremism and terrorism.
Agreements signed
President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also witnessed the inking of a number of MoUs and agreements to boost bilateral cooperation in diverse fields. The two countries signed MoUs and agreements in the areas of industry and new technologies, transit trade, combating trafficking in narcotics, cooperation between custom authorities on establishment electronic data interchange, research in the field of water resources and cooperation in education.
The two sides have reaffirmed their commitment to complete connectivity projects like CASA-1000 which would open new avenues for future energy corridors. Pakistan also expressed support for Tajikistan’s membership of Quadrilateral Traffic in Transit Agreement (QTTA).