Georgia-Sindh Sister State-Province twinning opens new avenues of cooperation: Sardar Masood Khan
ATLANTA, June 23 (SABAH): “Georgia-Sindh Sister State-Province Agreement has opened up vistas of opportunities not only for cementing business and investment ties but also brining the people of two sides closer to each other,” said Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Sardar Muhammad Masood Khan.
“There are 30,000 Pakistani-Americans in Georgia and two-way trade between Pakistan and Georgia has reached almost $1 billion, with over $600 million worth of Pakistani exports to Georgia,” he said.
Ambassador Masood Khan made these remarks at an event at Global Atlanta, renowned think tank of Georgia, during his two-day visit to Atlanta. He was speaking at an event, titled “Pakistan Ambassador Briefing: Growing Trade and Investment with Georgia” jointly organized Global Atlanta, World Affairs Council Atlanta and Miller and Martin PLLC. The event was attended by some 70 individuals, mostly the Americans.
He lauded instrumental role played by Pakistani-American Georgia State Assembly member Farooq Mughal in cementing Pakistan-Georgia relations. “We are proud of Pakistani-Americans who have excelled in the United States.”
Briefing the audience on Pakistan-U.S. relations, he said Pakistan-US relations have seen an upward trajectory during recent months. “Both sides have held several high-level dialogues and meetings in last one year,” he said “including in health, energy, climate change, trade and security.”
Earlier, Mayor of Atlanta Andre Dickens received the Ambassador at his office and discussed ways to further strengthen ties in trade and investment, people-to-people exchanges and cultural sphere. State Representative Farooq Mughal was also accompanying the Ambassador.
Mayor Dickens lauded the contributions being made by Pak diaspora towards socio-economic development of Atlanta city.
Dickens suggested that the presence of Pakistan’s Consul General in Atlanta would help strengthening ties as well as addressing issues of the community at their doorstep.
Masood Khan thanked Andre Dickens for his warm welcome and appreciated his leadership in transforming the metropolis into a smart city.
Discussing Sister-Province relationship between Georgia and Sindh province and future prospects, the Ambassador said that “We would like to turn this relationship into a strong partnership.” He proposed that in line with Sister-Province agreement, Atlanta could also considered entering into a sister-city agreement with Karachi to further strengthen the existing framework for cooperation.
Masood Khan said that Pakistan was looking forward to concrete outcomes of Sister-Province agreement with greater business linkages, people to people and student exchanges and strong cultural ties. In this context the Ambassador stressed on establishing robust linkages between universities and the academic institutes.
Discussing Mayor’s priorities for the metropolis including modern infrastructure development, tech sector growth, youth and workforce development etc., Ambassador Khan said that those priorities completely aligned with the focus of the government of Pakistan and the two sides could complement each other in achieving shared objectives.
Ambassador Masood Khan also invited Mayor Andre Dickens to visit Pakistan along with law-makers, community and business delegations, which the latter accepted.