By Naveed Miraj, Faisal Shahzad and Shahid Qureshi
ISLAMABAD: Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Pakistan Yerzhan Kistafin said Thursday that his country wanted to extend cooperation in diverse sectors with Pakistan with an aim to foster and strengthen the brotherly ties to another level. There is so much to share between the two countries both historically, culturally and people to people contact.
He vowed to further boost to the existing areas of interest between the two countries where diplomacy is at its best be it mangoes, sports and cultural. He added that connectivity should also be further strengthened between the two friendly nations and “We have so much in common and we can learn from one another”.
Mango Diplomacy
In an exclusive interview with WENEWS, the Ambassador said that everyone knows that Pakistan has the delicious Mangos across the world, adding that Pakistani Mango is very popular across the world especially in Kazakhstan. He said that there is a huge potential for export of Pakistani mangos in Kazakhstan’s market.
The Ambassador said, “Every time, I have sent a box of Pakistani Mangoes to Kazakhstan, the people asked me when the next box will be dispatched”. In a lighter tone, he said that the entire world knows about the delicious Mangos of Pakistan.
Agricultural, Energy, Textile
The ambassador pointed out at the agrarian economy and said that Kazakhstan can cooperate with Pakistan in terms of wheat. He added that Islamabad and Astana also extend cooperation in energy sectors especially in oil, gas and coal. He said that Kazakhstan has different types of natural deposits and “we would love to share these resources with our brothers and sisters in Pakistan”.
He said that 12th Joint Intergovernmental Commission meeting was held in Astana in December while the two nations also organized a business forum and a joint working group on trade and investment to further extend the bilateral cooperation. He said that ties between the two friendly and brotherly nations is strengthening with each passing day. He said that there is need to create awareness about the investment potentials in the two nations.
He said that a business delegation of Kazakhstan visited Lahore to explore more avenues of cooperation. He added that they want to enhance cooperation with Pakistan in textiles, pharmaceuticals, surgical instruments, sports goods, agriculture and machinery.
Sports Diplomacy
He said that the two sides should give more and more focus to sports diplomacy as well to further enhance the bilateral ties between the two friendly countries and people. He said that they had a number of different activities, events dedicated to developing their cooperation in different sports.
He said that they did a lot of work to extend cooperation in sport diplomacy last year. The Ambassaor said that they players of taekwondo, tennis and golf while mountaineers from Pakistan participated in one mega event organized by Kazakhstan in Almaty. He hoped that Kazakhstan’s golfers to visit Pakistan. He said that their players cannot play golf in Kazakhstan due weather conditions and “Our players can come to Pakistan to enjoy beautiful weather, stunning nature and golf.
Defense Cooperation
He said that Kazakhstan and Pakistan have close cooperation in every sector including defense and said that they two sides would further enhance the cooperation for the benefits of the two sides people. He appreciated Pakistan’s Armed Forces and said that they want to learn from their experiences and termed defense cooperation is a very significant area.
Cultural Diplomacy
To a question regarding cultural ties between the two nations, he said that they had set up the Kazakhstan House in Lahore in April and termed it a good development in Pakistan. Replying to another question about, culture cooperation, the envoy said that they wanted to extend cooperation in this sector to highlight cultures of the two nations. He said that they wanted to invite musicians, artists, and actors to attend culture events in the two countries. He said, “I am taking personal interest in the area of culture and this is very important bond for the region”. He said that the two nations are working to collaborate between the two sides media to show the soft image of the two brotherly nations to the people and the world. He hoped that Islamabad and Astana would do a lot of work in this sector as well.
The Ambassador said that there is a lot of common things in culture of Pakistan, Kazakhstan, and Central Asia. He was of the view that there is also need to work on cultural diplomacy between the two nations. He said, “we are not just neighbors in the region, but we are brotherly nations”. He said that the two sides will organize more culture events in the upcoming days.
Connectivity
The Ambassador said that President of Kazakhstan said that there is need of global transport corridor and Pakistan plays a very crucial role in this regard. He said that they should give more and more focus to connectivity between their countries as connectivity is a prerequisite to developing bilateral trade.
Talking about regional connectivity, the Ambassador termed China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a very important project not only for Pakistan and China but for the Central Asia as well. He termed the significance of Karakoram Highway as important in regard of connectivity between the two nations. He added that Kazakhstan’s cooperation with Pakistan in terms of connectivity is one of the main priorities for his government. He said that through Kazakhstan Pakistan can easily fly to the European countries and vice versa and through Pakistan, Kazakhstan can make access to the other countries.
Education and Tourism
Regarding cooperation in education and tourism sectors, the Ambassador said that they want to further work in these sectors as Pakistan is one of the beautiful places in the world. Last year influential travel bloggers from Kazakhstan visited Pakistan and they were deeply impressed by the beauty of Pakistan, the ambassador added. He said that they want to give status of sister cities to Lahore and Turkistan. He added that they also wished to enhance cooperation between the economic capitals of Pakistan and Kazakhstan. The Ambassador further said that the two sides should also give more and more focus to people to people contacts to enhance to the brotherly ties between the two countries.
He also shared his personal experience in Pakistan and said that Pakistan is a beautiful country and lauded the hospitality of Pakistanis.
