Regional integration with CARs key to development: Kyrgyz envoy

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador Republic of Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan Ulanbek Totuiaev on Sunday said regional economic and trade integration through the connectivity with Central Asian Republics (CARs) is key to the development and prosperity in the whole region.

The ambassador said peace and socio-political harmony in Afghanistan is significant for prosperity throughout the region, which Kyrgyzstan has also dreamed of.

The ambassador said this while talking to eminent businessmen and former president of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Zafar Bakhtawari and Ahsan Bakhtawari here at the embassy of Kyrgyzstan.

The Kyrgyz ambassador said Kyrgyzstan would hold a business forum in the coming months of September in which a 20-member delegation of businessmen and investors from Kyrgyzstan would come to discuss business-to-business relations with the local business community.

It would also include heads of government institutions and people from various sectors, which would help promote investment.

The ambassador said this forum was a milestone for the promotion of trade in the region.

The current circumstances have raised hopes for an improvement in the situation in Afghanistan, would have a positive economic and political impact on the entire region, including Central Asian countries.

The current Kyrgyz government, under the leadership of President Sadye Japarov, wanted to make a potential start in trade and economic relations with all countries in the region, including Pakistan.

Under which cooperation between the two countries in all economic sectors would be enhanced, he said.

The Kyrgyz government has set up a "Counsel for Investment and Cooperation" to promote trade relations and investment in the region.

The Ambassador said it would play its role in providing all kinds of support and protection to foreign investors.

"Our government assures every possible protection to foreign investment," he said.

Kyrgyzstan has vast opportunities for investment and trade in energy, agriculture, horticulture, honey, mining and minerals, he said.

Meanwhile, talking on the occasion, Zafar Bakhtawari suggested that air travel between Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan needed to be facilitated and flight operations would also be enhanced.

He said two flights a week should be operated from three major cities of Pakistan, Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, to which the Kyrgyz ambassador agreed.

On this occasion, Zafar Bakhtawari assured all possible cooperation for the business forum to be organized by Kyrgyz embassy in Islamabad in September.

He said peace in Afghanistan would open new avenues of economic and trade cooperation for the countries of the region, including Central Asia, which is rich in natural resources.

On the occasion, prominent businessman Ahsan Bakhtawari said that he would visit Kyrgyzstan next month with a business delegation, which would open new avenues for cooperation between the two countries.

He said more efforts were needed from both sides to boost trade and economic ties between the two countries.