DUSHANBE: President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday said that in the post 2014 geo-strategic scenario after drawdown of foreign forces from Afghanistan it was important that Pakistan and Tajikistan developed closer cooperation in all fields, particularly in the areas of defence, security and intelligence and proposed that the interior ministers should meet regularly and more often for this purpose.
The proposal was mooted and instantly accepted by Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon during a meeting between the two leaders soon after President Zardari arrived from Islamabad on a two day visit to this Central Asian state which is separated from Pakistan only by a narrow strip of few kilometers in Wakhan in Afghanistan.
It was decided that modalities for the meetings between the Interior Ministers would be worked out during the current visit.
Spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said that soon after arrival the President drove straight to inaugurate the National Bank branch in Dushanbe describing it as step to further cement business and trade relations before holding a one on one and a delegation level meeting with President Rahmon.
The delegation level meeting was attended by Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Pakistan's Ambassador to Tajikistan Amjad Hussain B Sial, Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar, Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jillani, Senator Abbas Khan and other senior officials of the foreign Office.
During the delegation level talks, the Tajik President was assisted by Tajik Ministers and senior officials.
Farhatullah Babar said that the President also proposed regular consultations led by our Foreign Offices and composed of relevant ministries and agencies to prepare plans for the evolving scenario as a result of the drawdown of foreign forces from Afghanistan.
President Zardari said that stable Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan, Tajikistan and the entire region and that regional solutions must be found to regional issues.
He said that Pakistan supported Afghan-led reconciliation process for bringing stability in Afghanistan.
President Zardari also called for removing impediments in developing closer economic cooperation by improving air, road and rail connectivity and stepped up people to people contacts and tourism.
He said that the experts were examining the Tajik Air's proposals and he looked forward to the introduction of Tajik Air's flights to Pakistan. He also called for examining the possibility of open skies policy between the two countries to promote people-to- people contacts, tourism and trade.
President Zardari also proposed that in order to encourage air travel between the two countries, the two countries may consider a policy of issuance of visa on arrival for a period of one month to bona fide businessmen and tourists.
Liberalization of visa regime has contributed to the enhancement of trade but it is still below the actual potential, he said adding, "we need to further liberalize visa regime for genuine businessmen."
"We have visa exemption for holders of diplomatic passports and it may be extended to holders of official passports as well," the President said proposing also to maintain a list of businessmen of Pakistan and Tajikistan who may be issued visas on arrival.
He said that the formal bilateral trade at US$ 15 million in 2011 was one fourth of the informal bilateral trade and much below the existing potential and steps needed to be taken to further enhance mutual trade.
The President said that Gwadar Port provides new vistas of trade for Tajikistan and Central Asia and Tajikistan, being a transit country for Europe, will benefit immensely from it.
The President also called for early finalization of a transit agreement between Pakistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan to take full advantage of Gwadar Port facility saying that it would be a win-win for all the three countries involved.
The President said that high-level defence and security exchanges reflected our seriousness for peace and stability in the region.
The President recalled his earlier visits to Tajikistan including in July 2009 and September 2011 as well as President Rahmon's visit to Pakistan in March 2011 and said Pakistan attaches great importance to its fraternal relations with Tajikistan.
He also expressed his gratitude to Tajikistan for its valuable support to Pakistan's candidature to UN Security Council's non- permanent seat for 2012-13.
The two leaders also agreed on the need of early implementation of CASA-1000 (Central Asia South Asia) electricity project.
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