ISLAMABAD: Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani Monday said that Pakistan attached great importance to its relations with Japan and desired to further expand the friendly ties in different sectors for mutual benefit of the people of two sides.

Talking to Ambassador of Japan in Pakistan Takashi Kurai, he reiterated the need to further strengthen the existing economic relations between Pakistan and Japan and called for minimizing the imbalance in trade between two countries. He said that prospects of trade volume could be improved through enhancing parliamentary ties and cooperation.

He said that bilateral relations could be further cemented by increasing parliamentary exchanges, said a press release. He said that both the countries supported each other in the hour of need and excellent cooperation had been witnessed at international fora.

He said that there was a need to further build cooperation by promoting people to people contacts and exchange of Parliamentary delegations. Chairman asked the Ambassador to explore the avenues for investment in Gwadar and he would play an active role to help facilitate the Japanese investors through Balochistan government.

He said that export to Japan should also increase to create a trade balance.

Japanese Ambassador congratulated the Chairman and recalled Pakistan’s support after World War-II. Pakistan was the first country which lifted cargo and supported war-torn economy of Japan. The Ambassador said that relations between two countries date back to 1952 and since last 65 years, we had promoted and consolidated these relations. He said that once Karachi was the favorite destination for the Japanese people.

Both side agreed for activating the Friendship Groups in respective Parliaments and Chairman Senate invited the leader of Pakistan-Japan Friendship Group in Japanese Parliament to visit Pakistan along with delegation.—NNI