Afghanistan, Pakistan sign economic cooperation pact

In a bid to strengthen economic ties between the two nations, Afghan Finance Minister Dr. Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal and his Pakistani counterpart Minister Ishaq Dar signed an agreement on economic and trade cooperation.

The signing ceremony of the agreement took place in the presence of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

According to a statement from the Afghan presidential office, Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to establish a power station on the Kunar River that would allow for both countries to consume electricity.

As per the agreement, traders from both nations could benefit from the establishment of the railway  connecting Jalalabad and Kandahar cities of Afghanistan with Pakistan’s Peshawar and Quetta cities.

The pact calls on Pakistan to conclude all their projects in Afghanistan, including the completion of the second lane of the Torkham-Jalalbad road and extending the Lahore-Peshawar motorway to Kabul.

Afghanistan promised Pakistan to extend the transmission line from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan. Afghanistan would further as the platform for Pakistan to be connected to Central Asia.