At last the dream of the people and business community of Pakistan and Central Asian State, to have closer trade relations and people-to-people contact is coming true. The government of Uzbekistan is working on plan to implement a rail project from Termez to the deep seaport city of Gawadar in Pakistan’s province of Baluchistan. The city will also be a free trade zone for international and regional trade. Speaking at United States Institute of Peace (USIP), Uzbekistan’s Ambassador to Washington Mr. Javion Vakhabov told about his government immense desire to explore all possible means to make the important rail project a reality. A historic noteworthy dimension of the project is that the city of Mazare Sharif in Afghanistan and city of Peshawar in Pakistan will also be an integral part of this project. It merits mention that traders of Peshawar used to do barter trade through Afghanistan with their counterparts in Uzbekistan during Mugual Dynasty era of India. There was also a reasonable quantum of bilateral trade through the open ended exchange rate mechanism of free convertibility of national currencies. Pakistan- Central Asia connectivity is not only vital for economic prosperity of the region but also for Caucasian countries, Middle East and North Africa. The participation of ambassadors of Afghanistan Roya Rehmani, US Special Representative on Afghainstan Zalmay Khalildad and Envoy of Kazakhstan Erzhan Kazikanov points to the bright prospect of this future scenario. Tarmez to Gawdarrial link project seems to be a harbinger of bringing prosperity to the people of this region. People of Pakistan and of course business community as well had express joy and jubilation when six Central Asian states became independent. They were aspiring to restore the broken links of trade, cultural exchange and visits to the cities of Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent in Uzbekistan, which had remained the seats of learning and ancient civilization. The city of Bukhara has a special reverence for the people of Pakistan. The compiler of the most authentic Hadith Book “Sahih-al Bukhari, Imam Muhaammad Ibn Ismail al-Bukhari was born in Bukhara in 196 Hijra (810 AD). Since 1991 Central Asia opening has been a cherished dream for the people from all walks of life in Pakistan. Renowned economists and trade leaders had always given valuable input how for establishing trade relations Central Asian countries and giving impetus to it. In the first PML-N government, Economic Affairs Minister Sardar Asif Ahmad Ali arranged seminars in the capital cities of all four provinces on the importance of economic integration with Central Asia and had led trade delegation to Central Asian States, but tangible results did not follow. Launching of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) revived the expectation of Central Asia Opening. It was primarily a connectivity project, which the previous government tilted towards mainly an energy generation project. Now the present government has brought connectivity dimension of CPEC on the front burner with diversification of investment sources, largely benefiting Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asian States.
