Thu, March 11, 2010
ISLAMABAD, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan and Afghanistan on Thursday agreed in a joint communique to boost communications network, bilateral trade and enhance cooperation in education, agriculture and energy sector.
The officials of two sides signed the Memoranda of Understanding in Islamabad on strengthening bilateral ties and enhancing interaction in diverse fields.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai witnessed the signing ceremony as Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Afghan counterpart Zalmai Rasoul inked the Pak-Afghan joint communique.
Both countries agreed to develop a roadmap for strengthening road, rail and air connectivity and upgrade existing facilities.
In this context, the two countries attached priority to undertaking completion of the Peshawar-Jalalabad Expressway and completing a feasibility study of the Peshawar-Jalalabad rail link.
The two sides agreed to take requisite measures to enhance bilateral trade to 5 billion U.S. dollars by the year 2015.
On cooperation in the education sector, the neighboring countries agreed to enhance the number of scholarships for Afghan students in Pakistani educational institutions from the present 1, 000 to 2,000, to make special arrangements for female Afghan students, and to set up an Institute on Management, Business Administration and Faculty Training in Afghanistan.
Pakistan will offer assistance to the government of Afghanistan in setting up new capacity building institutions and upgrading the existing ones.
The two countries also decided to enhance cooperation in the agriculture and environment sectors, including food processing, consider the creation of a Pakistan-Afghanistan Food Bank to strengthen food security.
Pakistan and Afghanistan also decided for earlier completion of the Turkmenistan gas line and other Trans-Afghan energy projects.
