President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday said the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan needed to be strengthened with focus on enhancing bilateral trade, building greater networks with the Afghan business community, and further streamlining the clearance of consignments at the border crossing points. The president, in a meeting with Pakistan’s Head of Mission Embassy of Pakistan in Kabul Ubaid ur Rehman Nizamani, who called on him here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, said peace would pave the way for Afghanistan to become a trade and energy connectivity corridor in the region. The peaceful Afghanistan, he added, would also accelerate the transit trade between Central Asian countries and Pakistan, besides helping expedite the materialization of Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (CASA-1000) power project, Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) projects. The president said Pakistan could offer online or recorded educational packages of Allama Iqbal Open University and the Virtual University of Pakistan to both male and female Afghan students to get quality education without the need to physically attend the educational institutions. He emphasized the establishment and regularization of border markets between the two countries for expediting the exchange of goods, especially perishable items, to help the populations of border areas to minimize wastage and improve their economic well-being. President Alvi expressed the hope that the new head of mission would play his role in further enhancing the bilateral relations between the two counties.