Minister for Railways Azam Khan Swati Tuesday vowed for strengthening regional economy by executing joint ventures with the Central Asian countries which would help in rooting out terrorism. He said this during a meeting with the delegation of Uzbekistan led by Uzbek Minister for Transport Makhamov Ilkhom, First Deputy Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Kudratov Laziz, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sidiqov Furqat and Charge d`Affairs of Uzbekistan to Pakistan Tashmatov Sadulla. The dignitaries highlighted the matters pertaining to mutual interest of the two countries and cargo train service during the meeting, said a press release issued by the Ministry of Railways. The meeting also discussed Trans Afghan Rail Project that would connect Pakistan and Uzbekistan via Afghanistan and later the Central Asian countries could also join in the project. It was pertinent to mention here that Prime Minister Imran Khan would also signed joint appeal in the name of World Bank for investing around $4.8 billion in rail link among Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. Presidents of Uzbekistan and Afghanistan had already signed the trilateral joint appeal to World Bank and the rail link would play its role for the progress and prosperity of these countries. Under the trilateral joint venture, a 573 kilometers railway track would be laid with 27 railway stations, 912 different structures and seven tunnels on this track. The shortest economic track would run from Peshawar to Kabul and from Kabul via Mazar Sharif to Uzbekistan. NHA projects: The federal government has released Rs 55,205 million for National Highway Authority (NHA) projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2020-2021. Out of the released Rs 55,205 million amount, Rs 52,287.428 million were local component whereas Rs 2,917.606 million as foreign assistance, an official source told APP on Tuesday. It is worth a mention that a total of Rs 118,674.855 million had been allocated in the PSDP-2020-2021 of the present budget out of which Rs 88,954.855 million were allocated for ongoing schemes whereas Rs 29720.000 million were earmarked for new schemes of the NHA. Food security in Thar: Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) was working to ensure food security in Thar desert and for the purpose it had cultivated different kinds of fruits, vegetables and fodder crops to promote agriculture sector and create livelihood opportunities for the locals. Talking to APP on Tuesday the Chairman PARC Dr Muhammad Azeem said the Council was engaged to strengthen government’s efforts to eliminate malnutrition and hunger by intervening through agriculture and livestock development. The PARC, he said, in collaboration with non-governmental organisations had developed different farmers cluster and was providing seeds of different beans to to the farmers to enhance yields. “We are providing about 200 to 300 mounds seeds of different beans, besides providing 50 to 60 mound bean for the farmers of Tharparker, he added. “We are also working on preservation of local species and preserved about 50 local species including trees, medicinal plants and cultivated moringa”. Meanwhile, Dr Attaullah Director PARC North Zone told that 14 varieties of guava, matching the local ecology, were also developed and distributed among the farmers to develop fruit orchids. Besides, 38 varieties of dates were also grown and 13 types of different grasses over 10 acres of land were also grown, he said adding that these interventions had helped create livelihood opportunities as well as fulfilling the food requirements of the local communities. Meanwhile, forest blocks were also established on 4 acres and different fruit plants including olive cultivated, he said adding that jojoba plants were grown over 45 acres in order to develop orchards and fruit farming in these areas. In collaboration with local foundation, about 50,000 plants of different kinds including fruits and trees for shadow had also been provided to 20 villages, he added. “We had installed a fertilizer plant to prepare fertilizer by using locust during current campaign against desert locust and distributed about 1500 bags of fertilizers among local farmers for producing organic agriculture products,” he added. He said that PARC was also striving for mechanization of agriculture sector in these areas and helping the local farmers through providing them technical assistance.