Ashgabat and Islamabad on the economic track: strategic issues and new projects
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov arrived on Monday, July 22 in Islamabad. He was warmly received at the airport by Pakistani Minister of Industry and Production Rana Tanveer Hussain, Pakistani media reported.
Earlier, at a briefing at the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, it was announced that Rashid Meredov would hold extensive negotiations with Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and meet with the leadership of Pakistan. During the discussions, “all aspects of bilateral relations,” as well as regional and global events, will be discussed, the Foreign Ministry added.
Pakistan seeks to leverage its strategic geopolitical location to enhance its role as a key trade and transit hub connecting the landlocked Central Asian republics with the rest of the world. However, Pakistan has significant energy needs that can be met by increasing trade with Central Asian countries.
The Pakistani press notes that recent months have seen a surge in visits, investment talks and economic activity between Pakistan and Central Asian states, including meetings with the leaders of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, just the other day, it was announced a new project for the construction of a new railway line Turgundi - Herat - Kandahar - Spin Buldak, which will run from the western border of Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan and further to India.
Joint participation in the implementation of this project was proposed by head of the Agency for Transport and Communications under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, Mammetkhan Chakyev. According to him, the Turkmen side has already agreed with their Afghan colleagues on the creation of a logistics center in Turgundi and intends to begin construction in the near future.
Representatives of the Afghan side expressed their readiness to ensure the transit of goods through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Pakistan, the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan reported. The department also quoted the words of Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin: “We support the idea of Turkmenistan, this is actually the beginning of the construction of a western corridor through Afghanistan to Pakistan and further to India.”
Probably, the topic of construction of a railway line along the route of the TAPI gas pipeline (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) to improve regional connectivity and ensure reliable transport links between the two countries will be on the agenda of the sixth meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation between Pakistan and Turkmenistan, which will take place as part of the visit to Islamabad of the Turkmen official delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Rashid Meredov.
According to the Pakistani economic publication Business Recorder, recently, Secretary of the Ministry of Economy of Pakistan, Kazim Niaz, held an inter-ministerial meeting to discuss the progress in implementing the decisions of the fifth meeting of the mentioned IGC with the participation of the Turkmen ambassador. During the meeting, it was noted that the volume of trade between Pakistan and Turkmenistan is far below its true potential. Trade between the two countries stood at $8 million in the 2022-23 fiscal year, which fell to $4.85 million this year. In this context, the need to speed up the consideration of the Transit Trade Agreement between the two countries was emphasized.
A proposal was voiced to open the Trade House of Pakistan in Turkmenistan. In addition, it was proposed to hold the first meeting of the joint working group on oil and gas issues and the TAPI gas pipeline project, as well as the working group on agriculture to discuss ongoing negotiations on the purchase of carbamide.
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