The trip aims to strengthen trade, economic ties, defense cooperation and people-to-people exchanges
President Asif Ali Zardari. Photo: File
President Asif Ali Zardari will pay an official visit to Bahrain from January 13 to 16, accompanied by a high-level delegation.
According to the Foreign Ministry’s message on The meetings will focus on strengthening bilateral relations, as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest.
The visit aims to deepen the long-standing partnership between Pakistan and Bahrain and explore new avenues of cooperation in the areas of trade and economic engagement, defense and security, and people-to-people exchanges, FO said.
Economic relations between Pakistan and Bahrain have strengthened in recent months. On November 26, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Bahrain’s King Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa agreed to increase bilateral trade to one billion US dollars within three years, one of the most ambitious economic goals set to date between the two countries.
Read: Pakistan, Bahrain aim for $1 billion trade target
This commitment was made during the talks at Qasr Al-Qudaibiya in Manama, where the two leaders placed economic cooperation at the center of their discussions. Bilateral trade currently exceeds US$550 million, with both sides expressing confidence that growth could be accelerated with the near-finalization of the Pakistan-GCC Free Trade Agreement and recent visa relaxations to improve business mobility.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also invited Bahraini investors to explore opportunities in the areas of food security, information technology, construction, mining and minerals, renewable energy, healthcare and tourism. The two leaders reviewed defense and security cooperation and agreed to expand collaboration in areas such as training, cybersecurity, defense production, information sharing and improving port-to-port connectivity between Karachi and Gwadar and Bahrain’s Khalifa bin Salman Port to facilitate trade.
