Federal Minister for Communication, Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan, has said that establishing road linkages between Pakistan and Kazakhstan would immensely benefit the economy of both the countries. He said this in his meeting with the Ambassador of Kazakhstan H E Bakhytbek Shabarbaye where they discussed the ways to enhance trade and transport relations between the two countries.
He further said that the present government wanted to establish a more close and cordial relationship with Kazakhstan. He said that Benazir Bhutto was the first Pakistani leader who visited Kazakhstan. He said that the present government wanted to take the vision of the great leader forward and expand the trade activities between Pakistan and Kazakhstan.
He said that the government was working on a plan to establish a world class road infrastructure. He said that our aim was to link the Gawadar and Karachi ports with the neighbouring countries through Highways and Motorways. He informed that Lowari Tunnel project was near to completion, which would give Pakistan a short and easy access with Tajikistan and other Central Asia republics.
He said that under Chairman National Highway Authority (NHA), a delegation would soon visit Kazakhstan and hoped that people related to road and transport industry in Kazakhstan could come here and explore new possibilities of investment in Pakistan.
He said that visa rules between two countries needed to be made more relaxed to give people a chance to have greater interaction with each other that would ultimately result in greater understanding between the two governments. The Ambassador thanked and said that his government shared Pakistan's efforts for better relationship between the two countries. He formally invited the minister for the first ACD Ministerial Transport Forum to be held in Astana in April, which was happily accepted.