The Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Committee (PAJC) met with the Provincial Secretary for Culture, Ghulam Akbar Laghari, Provincial Secretary for Sports, Mr. Saleem Raza and Special Secretary to Chief Minister Sindh, Mr. A. Rahim Shaikh on January 11, 2017 on the sidelines of Third PAJC workshop in Karachi.
The secretary sports said that if there were no advancements on the political front, the people to people relations should continue. He was willing to take all possible steps to increase the cooperation on sports and youth affairs and was also open to the idea of Pakistani sports delegation visiting Kabul for sports exchange on reciprocal agreement. He said that the ministry could provide all the facilities available in Karachi for such visits. He further assured to provide boarding and lodging facility to the visiting afghan youth delegations.
“We are open to the idea of organizing cultural events in Afghanistan through an MOU with relevant afghan department. The delegations from Afghanistan can also be hosted for similar events in Pakistan”, the secretary culture noted who was present in the same meeting, while adding that there should also be writers exchange who can travel simultaneously with the cultural troupes to share and disseminate their experiences through travel logs.
The special secretary to chief minister Sindh vowed to take up the matter with the chief minister for further necessary actions including expression of interest based on the recommendations presented to him by the PAJC members. The Afghan members promised to take up the possibility of potential collaboration with Afghan government. They also suggested covering all these proposals through one broader MOU between Sindh and Afghan government.
The outcome of the meeting was CM Sindh’s directive – in response to the recommendations of BB Karachi meeting (January 2017) – for entering into agreements/ MOUs on the proposed areas. (attached)