Pakistan and Belarus, while commemorating their 30th diplomatic anniversary, made a leap forward as they agreed to enhance existing bilateral cooperation and take it to new heights. The debut visit of President Aleksandr Lukashenko to Islamabad saw the signing of 15 MoUs apart from the desire to bolster legal frameworks, including an extradition treaty with a proactive landlocked member state of Eurasia. This hints at some great understanding to push for genuine interaction in trade and commerce and to buoy investors to explore the local dynamics of both the countries.
The three-year wide-ranging 'Roadmap for Comprehensive Cooperation' agreed during the visit is meant to outline a strategic line of action for intergovernmental commissions and joint collaborations in the realms of e-commerce, science and technology, accreditation, auditing, vocational education, health services and halal trade. While both the states enjoy pivotal importance in their respective geographies, it was also felt necessary to exchange notes on counter-terrorism, environment, money-laundering, customs and road transportation.
The visiting dignitary, apart from promising technology-transfer, pointed out at the untapped avenues in North-South Corridor that Pakistan is eager to be part of as Beijing-sponsored CPEC's comes full circle. Reaching out to Central Asia and beyond in the horizons of northeastern Europe is a cornerstone of Islamabad's geo-economics, and rewriting a new leaf of engagement with Minsk was a step in the right direction.
Pakistan has much to offer in the form of textile and other raw industrial material as Belarus excels in heavy-mechanical industrial pursuits, as it is one of the world's largest suppliers of mining and quarrying vehicles. It is hoped that these accords will soon translate into real-time interaction opening new vistas of commercialism. An extended cooperation with Belarus is visionary in context. It's time to raise the bar in exports to Belarus and push the envelope in non-knit garments, sports goods, medical accessories and rubber apparel that have a profound market in Minsk and beyond.
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