ISLAMABAD — Officials in Islamabad said on Thursday that Pakistan wouldtrain Afghan aviation personnel in air traffic control and airportoperations.
The Afghan government requested the assistance during a recent visit of itsforeign minister to Islamabad, Pakistani officials said.
Afghanistan’s Interim Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi made his firstvisit to Pakistan last week and discussed enhanced trade, cross-bordermovement and regional connectivity with top officials.
The Afghan Embassy in Islamabad said in a statement earlier this week thatthe two sides also agreed Pakistan would provide professional training toAfghan aviation personnel.
Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson, Asim Iftikhar, confirmed thatIslamabad was “ready to offer professional capacity building to Afghans inrequisite areas.”
“Aviation is one such area in which Pakistan will be providing assistance,”he said.
As the foreign office requested aviation authorities in Islamabad toprovide information on training facilities, Noor Ahmed, deputy secretary ofthe Pakistani government’s aviation division said the country’s nationalflag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Pakistan CivilAviation Authority (PCAA) are both ready to assist Afghan personnel.
“We have told foreign ministry that both PIA and Civil Aviation are readyto provide the required training to Afghan teams,” Ahmed said.
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PCAA air transport director Irfan Sabir, who was part of the Pakistanidelegation during the Afghan foreign minister’s visit to Islamabad, saidthe Afghan side had requested training in several areas, including airtraffic control, airport operations and aircraft maintenance.
“They have requested us to provide training in ATC (air traffic control),radar control, aircraft maintenance and operational training and airportoperations training,” Sabir said.
Training, he added, would take place at the Civil Aviation TrainingInstitute (CATI) in Hyderabad, Sindh province.
Sabir said the sessions will start as soon as the countries sign amemorandum of understanding, of which details are currently being workedout.
To expedite the process, both sides have agreed to nominate their focalpersons.
“Pakistan has already announced (the) name of its officer as focal person.We are waiting for the Afghan side to announce their focal person,” Sabirsaid. “Once our MOU will be signed then we will accept trainees fromAfghanistan.
