KARACHI: Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani on Wednesday told the members of the Pakistan Afghan Joint Committee (PAJC) that the exchange of parliamentarians would be an excellent initiative to improve bilateral relations between the two neighbours.

“I would love to visit the Afghan parliament along with other Pakistani lawmakers. I would also like to extend full cooperation for the betterment of ties between the two countries,” said the speaker at his chamber in the Sindh Assembly building in a meeting with the PAJC members.

He noted that both countries had a rich history and people-to-people contacts.

The PAJC members also met provincial secretaries of culture and sports Ghulam Akbar Laghari and Saleem Raza and special secretary to Sindh chief minister A. Rahim Shaikh.

The sports secretary said if there were no advancements on the political front, people-to-people relations should continue.

He said he was willing to take all possible steps to increase cooperation for sports and youth affairs and was also open to the idea of Pakistani sports delegation visiting Kabul on sports exchange agreement.

He said the ministry could provide facilities available in Karachi for such visits. He assured them that boarding and lodging facilities to the visiting Afghan youth delegations would be provided.

“We are open to the idea of organising cultural events in Afghanistan through an agreement with relevant Afghan department. The delegations from Afghanistan can also be hosted for similar events in Pakistan,” said the culture secretary.

The Afghan members promised to take up the possibility of potential collaboration with the Afghan government. They suggested covering all proposals through one broader memorandum of understanding between Sindh and the Afghan governments.

Earlier, the PAJC members visited two universities in Karachi.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2017