Pakistan, Oct. 23 -- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed aviation authorities to work out arrangements for direct flights between Pakistan and the Maldives in his address at the Pakistan-Maldives Business Forum in Islamabad, a day after the two countries exchanged 20 memorandums of understanding and agreed to raise bilateral trade from approximately $13 million to $200 million within two years.

The proposed trade target represents a fifteenfold increase in just two years. That is a tall order by any reckoning. Still, the government's decision to put economic cooperation at the centre of President Dr Mohamed Muizzu's visit is a welcome departure from the usual exchange of diplomatic pleasantries. Pakistan has considerable ground to...