Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 10 / Trend /
Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday that he would take up the Pakistan-Tajikistan road project with Afghan President Hamid Karzai during the forthcoming SAARC Summit to be held in Maldives next month, Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
At a meeting with Gilgit-Baltistan Governor Pir Karam Ali Shah, he said that the completion of project would provide the shortest possible route to the people of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, besides reinvigorating their historical, cultural and trade ties spread over hundreds of years.
The road project will connect Pakistan with Tajikistan by passing through eight kilometer long Wakhan corridor of Afghanistan.
Raza Gilani said the project was compatible with the agenda of SAARC Summit which is called "Connectivity".
The Prime Minister said it was his vision to develop good relations with the countries of region. "I visited a number of countries like Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, India, Iran, China and other countries of the Central Asian Republics to further my vision," he said.
Connectivity was intertwined with transit trade and Pakistan was keen to enhance trade with Afghanistan and beyond, he noted.
Ali Shah said the construction of road on Pakistan's side would require Rs. 2 billion, while Tajikistan had already completed the construction of road and bridge on its side of border.
He said that he recently traveled to Tajikistan via old route to meet his relatives and friends there.
Edited by G.Dadashova