Ishaq Dar, Hina Rabbani Khar discuss agenda for Afghanistan visit

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar held a preparatory meeting on his upcoming visit to Afghanistan with Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, ARY News reported on Monday.

According to details, Ishaq Dar and Hina Rabbani Khar discussed comprehensive agenda for carrying out decisive discussions with the Afghan leadership.

Various bilateral initiatives for deepening cooperation through enhancing trade and regional connectivity between Pakistan and Afghanistan were discussed during the meeting.

The finance minister was also briefed about the economic and regional peace and stability issues.

He shared that Pakistan was always determined to support Afghan people and keen for working on framework to help out “our neighboring country, Afghanistan, in these challenging times”.

The finance minister directed to prepare a comprehensive plan for making an effective and result-driven visit to Afghanistan in the near future.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Finance Tariq Bajwa and senior officers from Finance Division and Foreign Office attended the meeting.

Earlier in July, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the government has decided to import coal from Afghanistan to counter the energy crisis in the country and the LNG shortage worldwide.

PM Shehbaz Sharif addresses the Turnaround Pakistan conference and said that the finance minister has confirmed that the IMF’s economic relief package of Rs2 billion will be sanctioned soon. Our priority goal is self-sufficiency, he added.

The PM added that treasures worth billions of dollars are buried in Rikodiq, but we have not been able to benefit from it. In fact, we have wasted millions in cases regarding Rikodiq, he added.

Shehbaz Sharif added that other parties criticised them when they did long-term LNG contracts. But, the PTI government did not do any long-term contracts causing a shortfall of gas in the country, he added.