The Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Kashmir Affairs, Gilgit-Baltistan, and States and Frontier Regions convened at Parliament House, Islamabad, to assess tourism development initiatives in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and review cross-border trade with China, calling for the establishment of a dedicated national tourism ministry to drive Pakistan\u2019s untapped tourism potential and foster regional economic integration.<\/p>\n
The meeting, held under the chairmanship of MNA Haji Imtiaz Ahmed Choudhry, began by confirming minutes from the previous session and proceeded to focus extensively on strategies to promote tourism in Gilgit-Baltistan. Committee members received a detailed briefing highlighting the robust strategy employed by the GB government. Central elements of this strategy include significant infrastructure improvements, particularly road and airport expansions, creation of Tourism Facilitation Centers, and the launch of the innovative “Visit Gilgit-Baltistan” digital marketing platform.<\/p>\n
Officials informed the Committee that initiatives have been taken to boost private-sector investments in the hospitality, guesthouse, and eco-tourism sectors. Furthermore, the recently established Gilgit-Baltistan Tourism Development Authority (GB-TDA) has played a critical role in streamlining regulations, facilitating community engagement through capacity-building programs, emphasizing cultural and adventure tourism opportunities, and promoting sustainable practices such as the designation of eco-tourism zones and advanced waste management systems. The GB government’s overall tourism goals are ambitious: achieving 1.2 million annual tourist arrivals, generating tourism revenues of $1 billion annually, and creating up to 10,000 new jobs through expanded hospitality infrastructure, transport arrangements, and related facilities by the year 2030.<\/p>\n
In addition to tourism, the Committee examined Gilgit-Baltistan’s strategic significance as a regional trading gateway with China via the Khunjerab Pass. Discussions underscored vital Pakistani exports, including agricultural products, gemstones, marble, and handicrafts, alongside key imports such as machinery, electronics, and construction materials. Despite liberalization reforms, informal trading activities persist, causing considerable revenue losses and weaker government oversight in cross-border commerce. Nevertheless, committee members acknowledged promising developments in improving cross-border transportation infrastructure and procedures. Notably, Pakistan\u2019s National Logistics Corporation (NLC) successfully conducted its first Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR) operation, connecting Pakistan and Kazakhstan via China and Kyrgyzstan, thus strengthening regional connectivity under the Quadrilateral Traffic in Transit Agreement (QTTA) and the broader China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).<\/p>\n
However, the Committee also identified significant remaining practical challenges, including bureaucratic red tape, delays in customs clearance, and redundant immigration procedures that have previously resulted in forfeiture of goods and considerable financial hardship for traders. Improvements such as upgraded physical infrastructure, expedited “green lane” procedures for agrarian exports, establishment of single-window clearance systems, and enhanced international intelligence-sharing efforts were noted as positive steps toward facilitating smoother commercial exchanges.<\/p>\n
The Committee strongly emphasized the urgent need for the creation of a dedicated, national-level Ministry or Department specifically tasked with overseeing and coordinating tourism across Pakistan. Considering the remarkable growth of tourism into a core global industry, establishing such a centralized authority would enable optimized institutional cooperation, support inclusive economic growth, and foster sustained national development. Recognizing Pakistan\u2019s immense yet underutilized tourism assets, the Committee argued that a unified vision and centralized management structure could become a powerful force in regional integration, enhance job creation opportunities, and contribute significantly to the country\u2019s prosperity.<\/p>\n
The meeting saw the attendance of distinguished members including Mr. Shamsher Ali Mazari, Mr. Abdul Qadir Khan (online), Ms. Kiran Imran Dar, Mr. Fateh Ullah Khan, Mr. Naveed Aamir, Mr. Abdul Aleem Khan, Ms. Munaza Hassan, Ms. Farakh Khan, Mr. Shahzada Muhammad Gushtasap Khan, Mr. Iqbal Khan, Mian Ghous Muhammad, Parliamentary Secretary Mr. Anwar-ul-Haq Chaudhary, and Coordinator to the Prime Minister on KA&GB, Mr. Shabbir Ahmed Usmani. Additionally, senior representatives from the Ministries of Kashmir Affairs, Gilgit-Baltistan and States and Frontier Regions, Commerce, Interior, and the Ministry of IPC also participated in the review and discussion sessions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Kashmir Affairs, Gilgit-Baltistan, and States and Frontier Regions convened at Parliament House, Islamabad, to assess tourism development initiatives in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and review cross-border trade with China, calling for the establishment of a dedicated national tourism ministry to drive Pakistan\u2019s untapped tourism potential and foster regional economic …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4750,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4748\/revisions\/4750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}