Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said that he would take up the Pakistan-Tajikistan road project with Afghan President Hamid Karzai during the forthcoming SAARC Summit to be held in Maldives next month. The Prime Minister was talking to Gilgit-Baltistan Governor Pir Karam Ali Shah, who called on him at Prime Minister House here.
He said that the completion of project would provide the shortest possible route to the people of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, besides reinvigorating their historical, cultural and trade ties spread over hundreds of years.
The road project as visualised will connect Pakistan with Tajikistan by passing through eight-kilometre long Wakhan corridor of Afghanistan.
The Prime Minister said the project is compatible with the agenda of SAARC Summit which is called "Connectivity". The Prime Minister said it is his vision to develop good relations with the countries of region.
"I visited a number of countries like Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, India, Iran, China and other countries of the Central Asian Republics to further my vision," he said.
The Prime Minister said "connectivity" is intertwined with transit trade and Pakistan is keen to enhance trade with Afghanistan and beyond.
Recalling the signing of Transit Trade Agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan, he said the trade among the countries of the region has to be enhanced for which establishment of road and rail networks are essential.
The Prime Minister said he would highlight the cause of "connectivity" at the SAARC Summit because it would not only build bridges among people of the member countries but also create an enabling environment for their socio-economic development.
The Governor of Gilgit-Baltistan told the Prime Minister that the construction of road on Pakistan's side would require Rs 2 billion, while Tajikistan had already completed the construction of the road and bridge on its side of border.
He said that he recently travelled to Tajikistan via old route to meet his relatives and friends there.
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