DUSHANBE, June 18, 2014, Asia-Plus – Tajikistan and Pakistan have signed five cooperation documents.
The documents were signed in Dushanbe yesterday in the presence of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who arrived in Dushanbe for a two-day official visit on June 17 at the invitation of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon.
According to press release issued by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Prime Minister is being accompanied by a high-level delegation including the Minister for Water and Power, Minister for Textile Industry, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, and senior officials.
The sides reportedly signed a government-to-government agreement on setting up a joint working group on the issues of combating international terrorism and four memoranda of understanding – the memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the governments in the field of vocational education, the memorandum of understanding on cooperation between Tajikistan’s Ministry of Industry and New Technologies and Pakistan’s Ministry for Textile Industry on development of textile industry, the memorandum of understanding on cooperation between Tajik National University and the National University of Modern Languages in Islamabad, and the memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the national Library of Tajikistan and the Federal Department of Libraries of Pakistan.
President Emomali Rahmon noted that he and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had discussed a number of significant regional issues being of mutual interest.
According to him, they also discussed issues related to seeking new ways of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Pakistan.
Emomali Rahmon pointed out the significance of signing of transit trade agreement between Tajikistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan that will allow developing two-way trade between the countries.
“We also discussed Tajikistan’s joining quadrilateral agreement of Pakistan, China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan that will give Tajik entrepreneurs and tourists opportunities to visit Pakistan by shortest route,” Tajik president said, noting that they also discussed CASA-1000, a project for regional energy cooperation among Tajikistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Pakistan was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Tajikistan soon after its independence in 1991. Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Tajikistan and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan were established on June 6, 1992. Bilateral ties between the two countries are based on mutual respect, shared interests, and a common desire to promote peace, stability and development in the region and beyond.
According to data of the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan, a two-way trade between Tajikistan and Pakistan in 2013 valued at 84.1 million U.S. dollars. This consisted of Tajikistan’s exports to Pakistan estimated at US$19.9 million and Tajikistan’s imports from Pakistan worth US$64.2 million.
