DUSHANBE, December 24, 2014, Asia-Plus – Pakistan’
The News International
quoted Pakistani Federal Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan as saying on December 23 that Pakistan will massively enhance agriculture exports to Tajikistan in the near future to meet the latter’s growing need of foods.
During a meeting with Director of Agency for State Material Reserves of Tajikistan Nourmuhammad Ahmadov in Islamabad, Khurram Dastgir Khan reportedly said the trilateral transit trade agreement between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan will provide a great boost to trade and investment and bring down barriers hampering the regional trade.
Tajik Ambassador to Pakistan Sherali Jononov was also present at the meeting. The commerce minister reiterated a Pakistan’s proposal to sign a bilateral preferential trade agreement with Tajikistan. The two ministers also discussed the proposal to increase the bilateral trade volume to $500 million in the next three years, from $9.07 million in 2013-14, as agreed at the meeting between Prime Minister of Pakistan and President of Tajikistan held in June this year.
Khurram Dastgir Khan reportedly informed Ahmadov about the breakthrough achieved during the recent visit of the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to Pakistan. At that time, it was agreed that Tajikistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan would discuss trilateral transit trade agreement on the sidelines of the next Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Coordination Authority meeting scheduled to be held in the beginning of January next year. This is a big step towards providing Tajikistan, which is a landlocked country, with a route to access the sea ports.
Ahmadov, for his part, said that his country was concerned about the food security of the country and wanted to enhance its standing food stocks in the near future. It seeks Pakistan’s help in this regard.
Only seven percent of the total area of Tajikistan is cultivable and Tajikistan is heavily dependent on import of food products. Pakistan can fulfill the requirements of the population of Tajikistan, which is very small as compared to Pakistan, Ahmadov said. He sought the help of the ministry of commerce for the import of wheat, sugar, cooking oil, cotton seed and vegetables from Pakistan.
