Pakistan and Oman will work together for the promotion of tourism and assist each other to market their sites better, an official statement said. This was agreed in a meeting of ambassador of Oman Mohammed Bin Said Bin Mohammed Al-Lawati with Federal Tourism Minister Nilofar Bakhtiar. The two discussed the details of joint ventures and all the avenues of mutual cooperation. The ambassador of Oman briefed the federal minister about the prospects of their cooperation and said that Oman was eager to cooperate with Pakistan in the tourism sector. He said Oman Tourism Minister Dr Rajiha Abdul Amir Ali has accepted the invitation from her Pakistani counterpart to visit Pakistan and will reach in Islamabad in the last week of February. During her visit, the tourism ministries of two countries will work on a plan to market their sites by adopting mutual understanding and coordination. The Oman minister for tourism, who will also visit Lahore and Karachi besides Islamabad, will finalize the investments in various fields of Pakistan. She is also expected to participate in some cultural and tourism activities in Lahore, including Basant, during her visit. The ambassador of Oman appreciated Federal Tourism Minister Nilofar Bakhtiar for her extensive activities to boost tourism and said Pakistan was a beautiful country. Pakistan is as beautiful as Switzerland and is still unexplored and virgin, stated Mohammed Bin Said. The ambassador added that a group of tourists from his country recently visited Pakistan and various others were following them because they all were great fans of this country. Nilofar Bakhtiar briefed him about the initiatives being taken by the present government for the development of the tourism and said both President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz were keen to see Pakistan as a major tourist destination around the world. She said Pakistan recently liberalised its visa policy for attracting maximum tourists and was also introducing number of other steps. Ms Bakhtiar also briefed the ambassador about Visit Pakistan Year 2007 and its calendar of events. She invited the ambassador to participate in these events and said that special events would also be organized in honor of tourism minister of Oman.
