As part of his official visit to Pakistan, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon yesterday met in Islamabad with Pakistani President Dr. Arif Alvi, according to the Tajik president’s official website.

During the meeting, Emomali Rahmon reportedly expressed gratitude for invitation of the Pakistani side to pay an official to Pakistan and an opportunity to meet high-ranking Pakistani state officials to discuss state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Pakistan.  

Emomali Rahmon, in particular noted that Tajikistan attaches significance to expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation with Pakistan, the Tajik president’s website said.

The two sides expressed interest in further development of the bilateral trade and shipment of goods and products and considered it necessary to intensify activities of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation. 

The two sides reportedly discussed the bilateral cooperation between their countries in the fields of industry, agriculture, energy, investment and transportation.   

In the course of the talks, Rahmon and Alvi exchanged views on the issues related to providing regional security, jointly addressing global threats, including terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking and transnational organized crime.  

At the end of the meeting, Emomali Rahmon invited Arif Alvi to pay visit to Tajikistan.

Pakistani media reports say that talking to Emomali Rahmon, Dr. Arif Alvi highlighted Pakistan’s Vision Central Asia, which laid strong emphasis on forging deeper links with Central Asian nations in trade, investment, energy, security and defense, and people-to-people exchanges.

He underlined that Pakistan’s main emphasis had shifted from geo-politics to geo-economics and was focusing on optimally utilizing its location in this context. He underscored that the trade authorities and business communities of the two countries needed to collaborate effectively to enhance the volume of existing bilateral trade.

He also emphasized the importance of the early completion of flagship CASA-1000 transmission line project.  He stressed that Central Asia was an area of special focus for Pakistan, especially for regional connectivity and integration. In this context, he stressed the importance of peace and stability in Afghanistan achieved through a negotiated political solution.