Supply of clean and cheap electricity to Pakistan is expected to start from 2018 through CASA-1000, said His Excellency Sherali Jononov Ambassador of the Republic of Tajikistan. He was addressing the business community of Faisalabad in a special function held at FCCI here Wednesday. He said that Tajikistan has already started upgrading its hydel power stations which will be completed well before 2018.
He said that four heads of States including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon will meet in Dushanbe on May 12 this year to remove the hurdles in regional trade. Responding to a question, he said that population of Tajik is only 8 million which has surplus electricity which could be exported to the neighbouring energy starved countries. About price of this electricity, he said that Tajikistan will provide this electricity @ 5.1 cent/KwH. However, it will be available at Peshawar Grid at about 9.1 cent/KwH. He further told that Tajikistan is very rich in oil and gas resources and a project to provide gas to Pakistan and India through TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan, Pakistan, India) was also under construction.
Commenting on the road link between these countries, he said that a transit trade agreement has already been signed which needs only fine-tuning by Afghanistan as intermediate country. As regards direct road links, he said that both the countries have already discussed various road projects including one from Gwadar to Tajikistan via Quetta, Chaman, Kandar and Kabal. Similarly, another project was under consideration to build a road from Peshawar to Tajikistan via Torkham and Kabal. Yet another project was to build a direct road from Pakistan to Tajikistan via Chitral. However, in this connection a positive nod from Afghanistan is still awaited, he added.
Regarding banking services, he said that NBP has already established its branch in Dushanbe which has brought a significant improvement in our bilateral trade. He termed 'Pak-Tajik Trade & Cultural Festival 2016' as a positive step to promote bilateral trade between two countries and said that Pakistani businessmen should visit and explore this virgin market. He particularly stressed upon textilers of Faisalabad to visit and establish their textile related units in Tajikistan which has abundant of electricity, water and high quality cotton.
They could not only manufacture for the domestic need of Tajikistan but also export their surplus products to Central Asian states and Europe through a well established rail link. He assured that he will arrange their meetings with concerned ministries and Government officials to dispel their apprehensions and facilitate them in setting up their units in three new export processing zones in Tajikistan.
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