ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said that the Central Asia South Asia (CASA 1000) project would help redress power shortage in Pakistan.
“The role of CASA 1000 is important in redressing the power shortages in Pakistan, the prime minister said while talking a Kyrgyzstan’s delegation led by Minister of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic Kojoshev Arzybek Orozbekovich in Islamabad.
“The project is moving satisfactorily and the recent meeting of Joint Working Group held in Dubai from 5th to 8th December, 2016, took some important decisions which will ensure the project’s timely completion,” he said.
While warmly welcoming the Kyrgyz delegation to Pakistan said that Pakistan appreciated Kyrgyzstan government’s progressive policies.
“The people of Pakistan are happy to witness the progress and development of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan,” the prime minister said.
The prime minister informed the delegation that Pakistan economy’s growth rate had been above 4.84 percent during last three years and it now offered great investment opportunities for foreign investors. He said Pakistan embarked upon a major reform program that aimed at fiscal stabilization, mobilizing domestic resources, phasing out subsides, restructuring the power sector and other public sector enterprises and strengthening the social safety nets.
Nawaz Sharif further said that that promotion of regional connectivity is one of the seven pillars of the Pakistan Government’s development strategy and the government is actively pursuing this initiative which has the potential to integrate South Asia, China and Central Asia – the three engines of growth in Asia.
While commenting on bilateral matters, the prime minister said that both Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan were members of Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) and jointly they could achieve the goals of CAREC in the four priority areas including Transport, Energy, and Trade Policy & Facilitation to alleviate poverty in the region.
The prime minister emphasized that the present volume of total trade between Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan could be further enhanced and hoped that the third session of Pak-Kyrgyz Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) would prove fruitful in enhancing bilateral trade & economic relationships.
It is worth mentioning that Pak-Kyrgyz JMC was established in 1994 and the volume of trade between Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan amounted to US $ 5.573 Million from 2011 to 2016.
