ISLAMABAD:07 June: Speakers at a conference on “International Conference dedicated to the 20th Anniversary of Tajikistan-Pakistan diplomatic relations” felicitated the ambassador, government and people of Tajikistan and Pakistan on the 20th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The conference, organised by the National University of Modern Languages’ (NUML’s) Department of Persian Language in collaboration with the embassy of Republic of Tajikistan, marked the 20th anniversary of the Tajikistan-Pakistan diplomatic relations.

In his key address, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Nawabzada Ammadullah Khan highlighted the deep historical, bilateral and fraternal relations between Pakistan and Tajikistan, saying that the Pakistan-Tajikistan relations shouldn’t be judged on the basis of time when Tajikistan came into existence rather the relations date back as much as 100 years because we have common religion, beliefs, heritage, roots, culture and traditions.

“As far as our bilateral relations and unanimous stand on various issues is concerned, Tajikistan and Pakistan contribute to building up integration processes within the Organization of Economic Corporation, the Conference for the Mutual Confidence of the Asian Countries and the Shanghai Corporation Organisation. Moreover, both our governments have agreed to start direct air flights between Islamabad and Dushanbe to facilitate the people-to-people, and trade and cultural exchanges between our brotherly countries,” the minister said.

Prior to this, Ambassador of Republic of Tajikistan, Zubaydullo N Zubaydov in his welcome address, said that today policy of Tajikistan is to primarily focus on multi-vector cooperation with the countries all over the world and above all with the nations of the region with whom the country enjoys deep historical roots and maintains cultural and economic ties for long centuries, particularly with Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Tajikistan is looking forward to have cooperation on hydro-energy, communication, agriculture, raw cotton processing, leather processing, wool, recovery of spinning industry, establishment of joint ventures and cooperation in semi-precious stones processing, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, education, science and technology and tourism, he added.

Moreover, other speakers, including Dr Noor Fatima (Islamic International University), Syed Noorul Haq (Islamabad Policy Research Institute), Javaid Hafiz, Masood Ahmed Shah and Khalid Usman Qaiser drew on the different strategic, political, economic, cultural, traditional and future aspects and prospects of Pak-Tajikistan relations and advocated that with a little more effort and interest both countries can take benefit from each other’s resources and strengths.

Brazilian Ambassador Alfredo Cesaro, Argentinian Ambassador Eduardo Bustamante and other ambassadors and officials of embassies of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Kuwait, Yemen and Qatar also attended the event.Dawn.