PM to visit Tajikistan for talks on energy, defence

He may attend CASA Summit during the trip that will take place next month

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will visit Tajikistan next month where talks are expected to be held on bilateral energy and defence cooperation.

The matter came up for discussion when Tajikistan Ambassador to Pakistan Sher Ali Jononov called on Water and Power Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif. They talked about areas of mutual interest and cooperation in the fields of energy and defence.

Pakistan and Tajikistan have been working on the Central Asia-South Asia (Casa) 1,000 power supply programme for the past many years. They have made significant headway in pushing the project forward in recent months.

Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan are also part of the project, which will bring at least 1,000 megawatts of electricity from Central Asia to energy-starved South Asia.

Separately, Pakistan and Tajikistan along with China and Afghanistan have established the Quadrilateral Cooperation and Coordination Mechanism to fight terrorism. Under the mechanism, they will coordinate and provide mutual support in the areas of counter-terrorism situation evaluation, clue verification, intelligence-sharing, counter-terrorism capacity building, joint training exercises and personnel training.

Jononov invited the water and power minister to accompany the premier on his trip to Tajikistan, slated for July this year.

Accepting the invitation, the minister termed it an opportunity to take up energy-related issues along with other important bilateral and regional matters at the highest level.

He suggested that the Casa Summit, scheduled to be held in mid-July, may be organised in Dushanbe during the visit of premier Sharif.

He expressed the hope that relations between Pakistan and Tajikistan would strengthen with the passage of time.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17^th, 2017.

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