ASHGABAT: President Mamnoon Hussain said on Sunday that Gwadar port represented an excellent option for Tajikistan to import and export goods from, and invited the country to benefit from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The president during a meeting with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon here expressed the hope that start of the process for Tajikistan’s entry into the Quadrilateral Traffic-in-Transit Agreement (QTTA) would provide the Central Asian country with a legal framework to access Pakistani seaports through CPEC.

The QTTA is a transit trade deal between China, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan with a road project under the umbrella of CPEC.

The two leaders, who met in the Turkmenistan’s capital on the sidelines of fifth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG), discussed cooperation in energy sector, regional connectivity and trade.

Mr Hussain said that Pakistan attached priority to the timely completion of CASA-1000 (Central Asia South Asia project) by 2018 and looked forward to importing electricity from Tajikistan.

He called for expediting the implementation phase of CASA-1000 and initiating physical work on the flagship project for its timely completion.

President Hussain said that Pakistan attached great importance to its relations with the Central Asian countries, particularly Tajikistan, as the two countries enjoyed fraternal ties and shared common goals of peace and prosperity for their peoples and the region as a whole.

He stressed the need to finalise the Bilateral Transit Trade Agreement, which he said would create a win-win situation by creating road links between Pakistan and Tajikistan.

President Emomali said that Tajikistan and Pakistan were celebrating 25 years of their diplomatic relations and mentioned that bilateral accords signed over the last four years had enriched the legal framework of relations. He agreed to give directive to his government for resumption of Somon Air flights to Pakistan. He thanked Pakistan for providing counter-terrorism training to Tajikistan’s defence, security and police officials that helped improve their professional capacity.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2017