The High Commissioner of Maldives to Pakistan Farzana Zahir has expressed the desire to enhance trade between Pakistan and Maldives but pointed out that the biggest hurdle was not having proper connectivity infrastructure between the two countries.
The high commissioner said that the trade has increased in the last two years but regretted that the quantum of it was almost negligible, saying addressing the connectivity issues was the key to boosting trade and business between Pakistan and Maldives.
Zahir while sharing her views on Express News’ programme "Expresso" said that she wanted to enhance commercial activities between the two sides in sectors like construction, industries, textiles and tourism etc.
Expressing her love for Pakistani mangoes, she said that the Maldives imports rice, meat and pulses from Pakistan. “I am trying my best to provide more opportunities to Pakistani investors to do business in the Maldives but connectivity is a big challenge to attract business activities,” Zahir said, saying solving connectivity issues was the key to moving ahead.
The high commissioner also pointed out climate change issues, saying both the countries were severely affected by climate change and needed to work together in this area. “This [climate change] is a real threat and we are trying our best to deal with it through better planning,” Zahir said, adding that the Maldives was trying to create and depend more on renewable sources of energy as it believes that nature-based solutions were needed to be found to tackle the issue.
Zahir recalled that her experience of living in Pakistan has so far been “quite good”, revealing that she arrived in Pakistan during the Covid-19 outbreak, which was a difficult time as people were confined to their homes and could not freely move around. During her stay since her arrival, Zahir found Pakistan “beautiful” said Pakistani people were “very hospitable”.
“I think there is a lot of similarity between the culture of Maldives and Pakistan,” she said, adding “Like Pakistan, Maldives is also a Muslim-majority country; I feel at home here.” Sharing her next objective, Zahir said that she wanted to explore the northern regions of Pakistan, saying she has so far travelled to Murree, Lahore, and Karachi but wanted to explore northern areas of Pakistan.
“I have seen Gilgit-Baltistan and Hunza in pictures,” she said, “these are very beautiful areas and I will try to travel as much as possible in Pakistan while I am here.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 8th, 2022.
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