Road and railway connectivity with Central Asian republics to foster peace in the region: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif argues that developing business-to-business contacts would increase bilateral trade and investment.
The area will enter a new era of peace and prosperity, according to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who stated on Tuesday that road and railway connection projects between Pakistan and Central Asian states will not only bring the trading communities together.
In Islamabad, the premier met with a high-level team from Uzbekistan, which was led by Khodjaev Jamshid Abdukhakimovich, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Investment and Foreign Trade.
The two business groups had a constructive discussion, which the premier praised since “developing business-to-business contacts will promote bilateral commerce and investment.”
Shehbaz reiterated Pakistan’s determination to further strengthen the already-existing ties between the two brotherly nations after recalling his recent meetings with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Samarkand and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) Summit in Astana.
The group informed the prime minister of their talks in Pakistan, where it was decided to strengthen bilateral economic and trade ties.
They expressed delight that the pace of contact is increasing and that bilateral relations between Pakistan and Uzbekistan are continuing to deepen.
The Pakistan-Uzbekistan Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), which will go into effect on February 1, 2023, and is intended to increase trade volume to $1 billion, was signed by the two countries the day before.
Both Pakistan and Uzbekistan committed to raise all pertinent issues with the Afghan authorities in order to address the difficulties faced by their carriers. After finalising a shared agenda to be given to the Afghan side, this will be done during a joint visit to Kabul that will be made in the last week of January 2023.
The nations have inked eight other agreements to advance their bilateral cooperation in other fields.
The Pakistani side has already finished the necessary internal requirements to implement the PTA as of February 1, 2023, whereas the Uzbek side will do so in January 2023.
Syed Naveed Qamar, the federal minister of commerce, inked agreements with Khodjave Jamshid Abdukhakimovich, the deputy prime minister of Uzbekistan.
The execution of the Uzbekistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement was considered by both parties (AUPTT). In this regard, Uzbekistan will announce its regulations in February 2023.
A cooperative plan to facilitate transit trade through Afghanistan was agreed upon by both parties. A regional framework for transit and trade is to be created, along with a shared finance mechanism for Afghanistan’s road maintenance.
