The chairman of Pakistan’s Senate, Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, discussed upgrading bilateral ties through legislative exchanges in a meeting with National Assembly Speaker Kang Chang-hee in Seoul on Tuesday, during a four-day visit here.

Bokhari said direct interaction between lawmakers of the two countries could help generate better understanding and cement stronger ties, during an interview with The Korea Herald in Seoul on Tuesday.

Bokhari led the five-member delegation from the upper chamber of Pakistan’s bicameral legislature, officially termed the Majlis-e-Shoora, as part of events celebrating the 30th anniversary of the raising diplomatic relations between the two countries to ambassadorial level.

“Parliamentarians of the two sides can play a proactive role and learn from each other’s experience,” he said, adding South Korea has already established such a grouping and Pakistan will do so ahead of a visit by Kang before the end of the year.

Bokhari is an influential leader in the People’s Party of Pakistan, currently the opposition party in the South Asian nation’s legislature. He was a close political ally of Benazir Bhutto, and was with her when she was assassinated in 2007, narrowly escaping death himself.

Bokhari and his delegation returned to Islamabad on Thursday.

(ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)