Ambassador Designate Republic of Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan Ulanbek Totuiaev on Sunday said regional economic and trade integration through the connectivity with Central Asian Republics (CARs) is key to development and prosperity in the region. The ambassador said that peace and socio-political harmony in Afghanistan is significant for prosperity throughout the region, which Kyrgyzstan has also dreamed of, along with all other countries in the region. The ambassador said this while talking to eminent businessmen and former president of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce (ICCI) and Chairman Pakistan Central Asia Friendship Association(PCAF) Zafar Bakhtawari and Ahsan Bakhtawaria in the embassy of Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz ambassador said Kyrgyzstan will hold a business forum in the month of September in which a 20-member delegation of businessmen and investors from Kyrgyzstan will come to discuss business-to-business relations with the local business community. It will also include heads of government institutions and people from various sectors, which will promote investment. He said that this forum is a milestone for the promotion of trade in the region. The current circumstances has raised hopes for an improvement in the situation in Afghanistan, which will have a positive economic and political impact on the entire region, including Central Asian countries. The current Kyrgyz government, in the leadership of President Sadye Japarov, wants to make a potential start in trade and economic relations with all countries in the region, including Pakistan. Under which cooperation between the two countries in all economic sectors will be enhanced, he said. He said the Kyrgyz government has set up a “Counsel for Investment and Cooperation” to promote trade relations and investment in the region. The ambassador said that it will play its role in providing all kinds of support and protection to foreign investors. “Our government assures every possible protection to foreign investment,” he said. He said that Kyrgyzstan has vast opportunities for investment in energy, agriculture, mining and minerals. The ambassador said that Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan also have vast trade opportunities in various sectors, including agriculture, horticulture and honey. Meanwhile, talking on the occasion, Zafar Bakhtawari suggested that direct air travel between Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan needs to be facilitated and flight operations need to be enhanced. He said that two flights a week should be operated from three major cities of Pakistan, Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, to which the Kyrgyz ambassador agreed. On this occasion, Chairman Pakistan Central Asia Association Zafar Bakhtawari assured all possible cooperation for the business forum to be organised by Kyrgyz embassy in Islamabad in the coming months of September. He said that peace in Afghanistan would open new avenues of economic and trade cooperation for the countries of the region, including Central Asia, which are rich in energy and other natural resources. On the occasion, prominent businessman and farmer Vice President ICCI Ahsan Bakhtawari said that he would visit Kyrgyzstan coming months with a business delegation, which would open new avenues for cooperation between the two countries. He said more efforts were needed from both sides to boost trade and economic ties between the two countries.