Ready to cooperate for betterment of Pak-Afghan ties: Agha Siraj Durrani

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani has said that an exchange of parliamentarians would be an excellent initiative to improve the bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He said this during a meeting with the members of Pakistan Afghan Joint Committee (PAJC) at the Provincial Assembly, Sindh.

“I would love to visit the Afghan parliament along with the other Pakistani MPs. I would also like to extend all possible cooperation for the betterment of ties between the two countries,” said the speaker, while noting that both countries have a rich history of cultural and people-to-people contacts.

Later that day, the members of PAJC met the Provincial Secretary for Culture Ghulam Akbar Laghari, Provincial Secretary for Sports Saleem Raza and Special Secretary to Sindh Chief Minister A Rahim Shaikh. The secretary sports said that if there were no advancements on the political front, the people-to-people relations should continue.

He was willing to take all possible steps to increase the cooperation on sports and youth affairs and was also open to the idea of Pakistani sports delegation visiting Kabul for sports exchange on reciprocal agreement.

He said that the ministry could provide all the facilities available in Karachi for such visits. He further assured to provide boarding and lodging facility to the visiting Afghan youth delegations.

“We are open to the idea of organising cultural events in Afghanistan through an MOU with relevant Afghan department. The delegations from Afghanistan can also be hosted for similar events in Pakistan,” the secretary culture noted who was present in the same meeting, while adding that there should also be a writers’ exchange who can travel simultaneously with cultural troupes to share and disseminate their experiences through travel blogs.

The special secretary to Sindh CM vowed to take up the matter with the chief minister for further necessary action, including expression of interest based on the recommendations presented to him by the PAJC members. The Afghan members promised to take up the possibility of potential collaboration with the Afghan government. They also suggested to cover all these proposals through one broader MOU between Sindh and the Afghan government.

Earlier, during the day, the PAJC members visited the universities in Karachi, including Institute of Business Management (IoBM) and Institute of Business Administration (IBA) for interaction with the students and faculty members on “Pak-Afghan Relations: Countering Misperceptions and Negative Narratives”.

These meetings of PAJC are being held in Karachi as part of Beyond Boundaries II, a track I.5/II dialogue series undertaken by the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) in partnership with the Afghan counterpart Women Peace and Security Organisation (WPSO) to soothe bitter context and address the trust deficit between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The members of PAJC had other important meetings on Tuesday, January 10, 2017 at Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Committee (PAJC) with Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI), Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI). The points that emerged from these meetings are: The governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan should expedite convening the meetings of Joint Economic Commission (JEC) and Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Coordinating Authority (APTTCA). As agreed between the two governments at the fifth APTTCA meeting, the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) may also be revised soon and both the governments may help in creating an enabling environment for traders from both sides to promote bilateral trade. The interaction between the chambers of both countries needs to be increased and the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) may hold the ECO Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ECO-CCI) meeting in Kabul this year, as already agreed.

The last meeting on Tuesday was at the Karachi Arts Council (KAC) with the President KAC Ahmed Shah who offered to host 3-4 Afghan artists to perform and receive 2-week training at the KAC academy.