Secretary Planning Zafar Hasan highlighted the government efforts to promote regional connectivity and leveraging CPEC for larger interest of the region.

Dated : 11 April 2019

Secretary Planning, Development and Reform Zafar Hasan has said that lots of informal trade is going on between Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan which needs to be formalized to benefit the country’s economy.

A delegation led by the Country Director Pakistan, Asian Development Bank Yang Xiaohong and Safdar Pervaiz Regional cooperation head for Afghanistan and Pakistan called on Secretary Planning Zafar Hasan here on Thursday. Member Infrastructure, Chief Macro economics and senior officials of the ministry were also present in the meeting.

Secretary Planning while welcoming the delegation lauded the role of ADB in upgrading infrastructure for regional connectivity, said that the government started various socio-economic projects in Afghanistan in various sectors like health, education and infrastructure.

ADB country head Yang Xiaohong highlighted various efforts under CAREC to promote regional integration and creating economic values for member countries. She said that ADB is working on enhancing trade volume in the region and there is lot of complementarity between CAREC and CPEC.

Safdar Pervaiz Regional cooperation head for Afghanistan and Pakistan said that ADB is also working on establishing rail and road links for Central Asia through Afghanistan into Pakistan. He said that work is going on in these two countries for their mutual benefit.