KARACHI: Pakistan and Iraq have agreed to strengthen their maritime cooperation by exploring new sea routes after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to launch a ferry service between the port cities of Umm Qasr and Gwadar, Pakistan’s maritime affairs ministry said this week.
Islamabad this week granted its first-ever ferry service license to an international operator, Sea Keepers, for routes connecting Pakistan with Iran and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Pakistan’s Maritime Affairs Minister Junaid Anwar Chaudhry said the move would boost regional connectivity, religious tourism and economic activity via sea routes.
The agreement to launch the ferry service between Umm Qasr and Gwadar was reached in a meeting between Maritime Affairs Minister Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry, and a three-member delegation from the Iraqi Embassy in Islamabad, led by its deputy head of mission, Abdulqadir Sulyman Alhimiri.
“Welcoming the initiative, Minister Junaid Anwar Chaudhry described it as ‘a new chapter’ in bilateral relations, emphasizing that maritime passenger and cargo links could build on expanding economic ties and religious travel between the two countries,” Pakistan’s maritime affairs ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
