ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met his counterparts from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) this week in Kazakhstan as Islamabad seeks regional connectivity and integration through various projects, the foreign office said.

Dar, who is also Pakistan’s deputy prime minister, arrived in Astana on Monday to attend the two-day meeting of the SCO’s Foreign Ministers Council. Founded in 2001, the SCO is a major trans-regional organization spanning South and Central Asia, with China, Russia, Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan as its permanent members. The SCO member states collectively represent nearly half of the world’s population and a quarter of global economic output. 

Pakistan has aimed to enhance its role as a pivotal trade and transit hub connecting the Central Asian republics with the rest of the world, leveraging its strategic geographical position.

Dar met Tajikistan’s Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin on Tuesday at the sidelines of the CFM meeting where they committed to further strengthen bilateral cooperation and high-level dialogue. 

“They underlined the early implementation of CASA-1000 project and other connectivity and regional integration projects for mutual benefit of the two countries and the wider region,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said. 

The CASA-1000 project aims to allow Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, former Soviet republics with an extensive network of hydroelectric power plants, to sell excess energy to Pakistan and Afghanistan in the summer months.

The development took place a day after Dar met Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubaev. The two discussed last week’s violent clashes in Bishkek that forced Pakistan to repatriate over 600 students from Kyrgyzstan within days. 

During the meeting, Dar shared the feelings of insecurity and fear among Pakistani students with Kulubaev and requested the foreign minister to ensure their safety and security. He also requested for holding to account those responsible for the attacks on Pakistani students, the foreign office said. 

“Bilateral relations between Pakistan and Kyrgyz Republic especially in the domains of energy, connectivity, trade and people-to-people contacts also came under discussion,” the foreign office said. “And both dignitaries expressed satisfaction at the progress of established bilateral institutional mechanisms.”

Pakistan has recently undertaken measures to enhance bilateral trade and ramped up efforts to attract foreign investment to stave off a chronic balance of payments and macroeconomic crisis. 

Since April, the South Asian country has seen a flurry of high-level engagements. These included visits by the Iranian president, Saudi foreign minister, a delegation of top Saudi companies as well as officials from Qatar, China, Japan and Central Asian countries, among others.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has vowed to rid Pakistan of its economic crisis by attracting foreign investment, efficiently utilizing its state-owned enterprises and ensuring sustainable development of its priority sectors.