President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday called for improving Pakistan-Kazakhstan trade and economic relations as both countries had great scope to expand cooperation in the two sectors. The president, talking to Pakistan’s Ambassador-designate to Kazakhstan Nauman Bashir Bhatti, who called on him here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, pointed out that the potential of trade between the two brotherly countries was much greater than the current level of bilateral trade. He said there was a clear need to explore new avenues to boost bilateral trade for the mutual benefit of the two countries. The president said the potential for enhancing trade in the fields of agriculture and agro-products needed to be materialized. The maximum facilitation to investors from Kazakhstan should be provided to establish their businesses, in the already established Special Economic Zones across Pakistan. He said Pakistan attached great importance to its ties with Kazakhstan as both the brotherly countries shared historical and cultural bonds. He said Pakistan was committed to develop sustainable and result-oriented relations with the Central Asian Republics (CARs) under its “Vision Central Asia” policy, and enhancing regional connectivity with CARs constituted a pivotal part of its policy towards the region. The president stressed the need to keep up the momentum in taking forward regional connectivity initiatives with Kazakhstan, such as Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran (KTI) railway link. While emphasising the need to enhance people-to-people contacts with Kazakhstan, the president called for increasing cooperation in the field of higher education through joint degrees, and student and faculty exchange programmes. He said the Virtual University of Pakistan (VU) was offering online education, which was cost-effective and students from Kazakhstan could benefit from it. He said 8,000 foreign students were already enrolled in various virtual education programmes of the VY. The president asked the ambassador-designate to convey his gratitude to the government and the people of Kazakhstan for their generous assistance to the flood-affected people of Pakistan. President Alvi asked the ambassador-designate to highlight the anti-Muslim and anti-minority policies of India, particularly the atrocities and human rights violations being committed by the Indian occupation forces against the Muslim population of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He also asked him to work for improving the country’s image. The president congratulated Nauman Bashir Bhatti over his appointment as Pakistan’s ambassador-designate to Kazakhstan and urged him to take effective steps for further improving bilateral relations between the two countries.