Central Asia connect

Pakistan's focus on expanding ties with Central Asian Republics is an outcome of geo-economics. The graduation of CPEC into its second phase has thrown open new opportunities for the landlocked former Soviet states, as well as Afghanistan, to buoy their regional interaction for collective good. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's visits to Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan were intended at kick-starting a new phase of understanding, and to cement relations on a broader horizon of multilateralism. The promise from Baku to invest over $2 billion in Pakistan and, likewise, the eagerness of Tashkent to expand bilateral trade to $2 billion are epoch-making developments, and need to be firmly implemented. There are a large number of sectors that Pakistan can tap for these progressive republics in the north, especially in defence cooperation, transportation, energy and mining. A cobweb of unbridled air connectivity is a must, and it is a pity that Pakistan is still not on the map of several airlines that, otherwise, frequently fly to capitals in the region. The Tashkent-Lahore flight is a good initiative which should be extended to Astana, Samarkand, Bishkek, Dushanbe, Bukhara and Minsk. Similarly, easing of visa regulations and due patronage to the businesses community is indispensable. Another area of interest should be infrastructure development to cut down on the road travel in the region, and enable logistics on a supersonic speed as is the case in Europe. Last but not least is pinning cultural and academic interactions to galvanise a better understanding of ethos for promoting pluralism. As trade and commerce take roots, it necessitates an understanding to further the prospects for peace in Afghanistan. Nothing could be materialised with revulsion in the West Asian state, and Kabul has a major responsibility to dispense by exterminating terror fissures on its soil. This will not only help prospective energy projects such as TAPI and CASA-1000, but also the proposed railway link between Pakistan and Uzbekistan via Afghanistan. That is how geo-economics could be realised for the betterment of around a billion people in the region.

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