Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister (FM) Ishaq Dar said on Thursday that Pakistan s role in increasing regional connectivity was important, and the country was ready to coordinate transport, enhance cross-border facilitation, mobilize joint investments, and strengthen regional value chains. Addressing Regional Transport Ministers Conference in Islamabad, Ishaq Dar said that transport had a major role to play in economic development. Highways in Pakistan connect people of different areas of the country, Dar said, adding, The government is focusing on improving road and rail networks.

Hosted by the Ministry of Communications, with a theme Regional Connectivity: Opportunities for the Region, the conference was attended by transport ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, besides delegates from the Asian Development Bank, Economic Cooperation Organization, International Road Transport Union, and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

The event will convene transport ministers, policymakers, and development partners from 27 nations to enhance regional connectivity and sustainable transport cooperation. Roads built, Ishaq Dar further said, under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are worth-mentioning when it came to connectivity. Asserting that Pakistan s location in the region was significant, he said that the country served as a linkage between South Asia and Central Asia. The deputy PM informed that a project of laying a rail track between Pakistan and Uzbekistan was under consideration.

The country is committed to enhancing the volume of its trade with the South Asian and Central Asian countries, he emphasized. For that purpose, Dar went on to say, Pakistan was modelling its ports on modern lines. The government is also working on e-ports, he added. Dar calling Pakistan a regional hub for connectivity, said that the country was ready to coordinate transport, enhance cross-border facilitation, mobilize joint investments, and strengthen regional value chains.

He said by turning geography into opportunity, Pakistan was building pathways for inclusive growth and cooperation. Calling the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor a catalyst for energy infrastructure development, transport connectivity, and enhanced trade across South and Central Asia, Dar said the project also embodied the commitment to building partnerships for the benefit of Pakistan, China as well as the entire region.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)