Belarus, Tajikistan presidents to visit Pakistan next week

Heads of states of both countries to undertake two-day trips to Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: The country is getting ready to host the presidents of Belarus and Tajikistan, who are expected to arrive in the federal capital next week.

According to the PM House, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon will each be visiting Pakistan for two days, though dates of their visit are yet to be announced.



On Thursday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired high level meeting to review and finalise arrangements for hosting the two dignitaries. A PM House official told The Express Tribune that dates for the two visits will be announced in the coming days.



The official added that the heads of states will be visiting for two days each but at separate times during the week. Further, the agendas for the visits are expected to revolve around boosting bilateral trade, energy, education ties.

This will be Lukashenko’s second visit to Pakistan in the last seven months. Earlier, he had toured Pakistan on May 30 when the two countries signed 15 agreements and five Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) in the fields of education, technology, trade and defence production.



Nawaz reciprocated the move when he visited Minsk in August as both sides signed a further 14 MoUs of cooperation in several fields.

In June the premier had visited Dushanbe for two days accompanied by high-powered delegation that included ministers for water and power, Textile, minister of state for foreign affairs and other senior officials.

During the visit, five MoUs and agreements were signed. Both sides had also agreed on forming a joint working group to combat terrorism, a MoU between Ministries of Textile of the two countries, an MoU on cooperation on vocational training, an MoU between National Library of Tajikistan and National Library of Pakistan and an MoU between Tajikistan and the National University of Modern Languages to train Tajik diplomats. Pakistan and Tajikistan had also agreed to intensify their mutual consultations on Afghanistan, in addition to supporting an inclusive Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2015.