Pakistan Eyes Central Asian Trade With New Transit Route Through Tajikistan

Pakistan and Tajikistan have agreed to advance bilateral trade and explore new transit corridor mechanisms, as both countries move to strengthen regional connectivity and economic cooperation.

The development came during a meeting between Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan and Tajikistan’s Ambassador Sharifzoda Yusuf Toir in Islamabad, where both sides discussed expanding trade, improving transit routes, and enhancing institutional collaboration.

The minister said Pakistan is focused on facilitating regional trade through better logistics, diversified transit routes, and stronger coordination with partner countries. He emphasized that completing internal procedures under transit frameworks, including QTTA arrangements, remains critical to operationalizing existing systems and enabling future cooperation.

Highlighting long term plans, Jam Kamal said the development of an integrated commercial corridor would be key to linking Pakistan with Central Asia. He noted that investments in logistics hubs, offloading facilities, and multimodal transport systems would help build a more efficient and reliable supply chain, while cooperation with China would continue to play a central role in regional connectivity.

He also stressed that relying on a single trade route is not sustainable, underlining the need to keep multiple corridors active to ensure continuity and resilience. Cost efficiency and operational feasibility, he said, should guide route selection.

Both sides discussed strengthening institutional linkages by promoting direct engagement between export and import agencies through virtual meetings, with a view to developing sector-specific cooperation and drafting memoranda of understanding.

The two sides agreed to utilize platforms such as the Joint Economic Commission to advance cooperation and proposed organizing a business-to-business forum alongside upcoming engagements to strengthen private sector links.