Pakistan ready to grant Kyrgyzstan access to its ports

Pakistan on Thursday said it was ready to provide landlocked Kyrgyzstan access to regional and global markets through its three seaports.

"Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country... Pakistan, as a gateway to the Indian Ocean, stands ready... to provide Kyrgyz Republic access to regional and global markets through our ports of Karachi Port, Qasim Port, and Gwadar Port," Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced during a joint news conference with visiting Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov in the capital, Islamabad.

Earlier, Zhaparov, who is the first Kyrgyz head of state to visit Islamabad in 20 years, held talks with Sharif at the Prime Minister's Office. Pakistan's army chief Gen. Asim Munir was also present in the meeting.

Separately, Islamabad's top diplomat Ishaq Dar also called on Zhaparov, a statement from the Foreign Ministry said.

Sharif said that Islamabad is eager to deepen cooperation with Bishkek in various fields, including trade, economy, and defense.

He said the two countries would increase the current bilateral trade volume of $15 million to $200 million over the next two years.

Zhaparov, in return, said that the two sides have discussed and agreed to boost bilateral cooperation in trade, economy, energy, transportation, science, and other fields, as Bishkek considers Islamabad an "important" partner in South Asia.

The two sides, he added, would jointly combat terrorism, extremism, and other traditional crimes, in addition to exploiting their transportation and transit potential.

Later, the two countries inked 15 agreements and memoranda of understanding to bolster cooperation in the economy, trade, energy, communication, education, culture, tourism, and other sectors.

Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan established diplomatic ties in 1992.