TAPI vital despite India’s disinterest: Kakar
The prime minister said that despite India's lack of interest, Pakistan is focused to reap the benefits from the long-pending four-nation energy corridor, TAPI.
About the multibillion-dollar project involving Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India (TAPI), the prime minister said the corridor could prove as a source of cheap and sustainable supply of energy for the region.
"On TAPI, there is a lot of enthusiasm from Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. But if India chooses to remain out of the benefit of this whole arrangement, they still can do it," Kakar said in an interview with Turkiye's Anadolu news agency.
Kakar said, "With or without India, the Turkmen gas can be exploited for the economic benefit of this region, and we are very much focused on achieving that target."
Also, the prime minister said that an enhanced air, road and rail connectivity between Pakistan and Uzbekistan was vital to strengthen the bilateral trade and commercial ties, besides bringing the two peoples closer to each other.
The prime minister, in an interview with the Uzbek television channel Ozbekistan24 during his two-day visit to Tashkent to attend the 16th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO), said Pakistan would find a lot of inspiration to further develop bilateral relations.
"This will come with more connectivity. The connectivity through direct air, rail, and roads will be the answer to bringing the people closer," he remarked.
He said Pakistan considered Uzbekistan as one of the most important countries in the region as President Shavkat Mirziyoyev had taken multiple new initiatives in economic and connectivity terms.
He told the interviewer that during his multiple interactions, he had observed a lot of energy in President Mirziyoyev who was very focused and striving to translate his "clear" vision into tangible projects.
Prime Minister Kakar said Uzbekistan and Pakistan had appointed their deputy prime minister and commerce minister respectively as focal persons to regularly meet and explore specifics for trade.
He said both countries could focus on trading the mutually required goods and the working groups would also identify such areas as pharmaceuticals. Uzbekistan could be also used as a transit route for further export to other countries, he added.
"Both sides are exploring specifics. I am pretty sure that these specifics will bring in mutual benefits. The target of one billion dollar trade is short-term and it can go beyond that," he remarked.
Read Pakistan, Turkmenistan ink JIP for TAPI
The prime minister appreciated the Uzbek president's eagerness to execute the rail link between Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan as he prudently approached all the players in the region and beyond.
"We are currently working on carrying out the feasibility study from the World Bank. It shows his (Uzbek president) diplomatic and strategic skills for convincing everyone that the project will benefit everyone," he added.
To a question, he said the Uzbek leadership was coming with renewed confidence and trying to acquire a deserved central position for Uzbekistan within the region.
Prime Minister Kakar, who was on his first visit to Uzbekistan, said he was quite impressed with the modern infrastructure and well-groomed people in Tashkent showcasing the government's priorities of investing in both infrastructure and human resources.
Citing the deep historical ties and commonalities of diction in Uzbek and Urdu languages, he said, "These shared roots will bring more closeness between the people, and develop into commercial and economic ties."
Mentioning the most popular Hadith collector Imam Bukhari, buried in Samarkand and revered across the Muslim world, the prime minister said while thinking about Uzbekistan, a scholarly and philosophical image came to one's mind.