ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Kazakhstan agreed to speed up work on bilateral tourism and economic integration for opening new avenues of bilateral cooperation.
The agreement to the effect was reached during a meeting between Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal and Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Pakistan Yerzhan Kistafin, a news release said.
Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that both Pakistan and Kazakhstan had a major role in regional economic integration, while bilateral tourism could open new avenues of cooperation between them.
He said that besides being the largest economy in Central Asia, Kazakhstan had geo-strategic importance. Tourism and sports could help strengthen bilateral relations and for which the two countries should frame comprehensive plans, he added.
Ashan said that Pakistan should nominate 10 to 15 best tour operators to work with their counterparts in Kazakhstan for the promotion of tourism.
The minister said that Pakistan would had a main role to play for enhancing connectivity between Central Asia and Afghanistan through railways which would ultimately strengthen regional integration.
Ambassador Yerzhan Kistafin said that a two-day sports tourism festival would be held in Almaty on May 23-24. The chess federations of the two countries were collaborating with each other, which was step towards strengthening bilateral cooperation in indoor sports, he added. The ambassador said that all major Pakistani logistics companies were planning to set up offices in Kazakhstan as their representatives had visited the country for purpose. He said the direct flights between Lahore and Almaty had started last year.
The duration of flight between the two cities around two hours. “We have signed agreements with four Pakistani universities including NUML, NUST, Punjab University and Quaid-e-Azam University to send their students and faculty to Kazakhstan this year, ”the ambassador added. Yerzhan Kistafin said that two important transit routes were under construction, the first one was to connect western China with Europe and the second one to connect Kazakhstan and Central Asia with Pakistan.
