Islamabad, 31 January 2022 (TDI): The Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi held a telephonic conversation with the Foreign Minister of Tajikistan.
The two sides expressed satisfaction at the steadily growing bilateral ties and exchanged views on further expanding the partnership. The Foreign Minister noted an increased frequency of high-level visits between the two countries and acknowledged holding of political dialogues, reactivation of economic mechanisms, and growing parliamentary ties.
Foreign Minister Qureshi also underlined Pakistan’s “Vision Central Asia” policy that focuses on enhanced and result-oriented engagement with Central Asian countries. He stressed the importance of enhancing trade and economic ties. The Foreign Minister reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to the implementation of the flagship CASA-1000 power project.
The two sides were pleased to note the excellent multilateral cooperation at global and regional fora, including in the UN, OIC, SCO, and ECO.
The Foreign Ministers also discussed the economic and humanitarian requirements in Afghanistan and agreed to continue working together in support of sustainable peace and stability in Afghanistan.
PAKISTAN-TAJIKISTAN DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS
Cooperation between Pakistan and Tajikistan dates back to 1991. A year later both countries established diplomatic relations on 6 June. Later in 1993, Pakistan opened its Embassy in Tajikistan, but it began operations in 1994. On the other side, Tajikistan also opened its Embassy in Pakistan.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, they have developed progressively. According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Tajikistan, during that time; the President of Tajikistan has 7 official and state visits in his record.
Those visits were in 1994, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2011, 2015, 2021. The Tajik President also visited Pakistan to attend the 13th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization in Islamabad.
On the most recent visit of the Tajik President, Emomali Rahmon; to Pakistan, the representatives signed 12 cooperation documents. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of both countries had a meeting, as the Pakistani Minister, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi was in Dushanbe.
Qureshi’s visit to Tajikistan was to be part of the Ninth Conference of Foreign Ministers “Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process “March 29-31, 2021. The Ministry also mentioned that both countries have an Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, and Technical Cooperation.
This Commission is one of the main mechanisms for the development of bilateral economic cooperation. Furthermore, both held a meeting of the Tajik-Pakistani intergovernmental commission on trade, economic and technical cooperation, in 2019.
According to the Ministry; during the first months of 2021, the trade between both experimented with a gradual recovery (18.9 million). That meant an increase of 6.3 % compared to the same period of 2020.
