President Zardari to depart on 4-day official visit to Kyrgyzstan today: FO

President Asif Ali Zardari will head to Kyrgyzstan on Monday for a four-day official visit, according to the Foreign Office (FO).

Accompanied by a high-level delegation, President Zardari will undertake the visit at the invitation of the Kyrgyz Republic’s President Sadyr Zhaparov.

“This is the first visit by a President of Pakistan to the Kyrgyz Republic in 21 years, marking a historic milestone in the bilateral relationship,” the FO highlighted.

It noted that the trip followed Zhaparov’s “successful visit” to Pakistan in December 2025 and reflected the “sustained upward trajectory of high-level engagement between the two brotherly countries”.

During the visit, President Zardari will hold a one-on-one meeting and delegation-level talks with Zhaparov.

“The two leaders will review the entire spectrum of Pakistan-Kyrgyzstan relations and exchange views on regional and international developments of mutual interest,” the FO said.

It added that discussions were expected to focus on deepening cooperation across trade and investment, energy, mining, agriculture, textiles, the halal industry, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, the digital economy, education, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges.

During his trip, President Zardari will also receive Kyrgyz parliament speaker Marlen Mamataliev for a courtesy call.

The FO emphasised that Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan enjoy “warm and fraternal relations, anchored in shared history, faith, culture and common aspirations for peace, connectivity and prosperity in Central and South Asia”.

Alongside bilateral relations, Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan are both members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisa­tion (SCO), a 10-nation Eurasian security and political grouping whose other members include China, Russia, India, and Iran.

When Zhaparov visited Islamabad for two days in December 2025, it was the first visit to Pakistan by a Kyrgyz president in 20 years.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had offered landlocked Kyrgyzstan access to regional and global markets through its ports of Karachi, Bin Qasim and Gwadar.

The two countries have also been working on the $1.2 billion Central Asia-South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA-1000), which is expected to become operational by January 2027 as per a Tajik minister.

More to follow ...