ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Uzbekistan on Monday agreed to expedite institutional mechanisms to reach an agreed target of $2 billion in bilateral trade, as the two sides move to deepen cooperation on regional trade corridors, air connectivity, labor mobility and business engagement.
The decisions were taken during the 10th session of the Pakistan–Uzbekistan Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) on Trade, Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation, held in Islamabad on Feb. 2. The meeting was co-chaired by Haroon Akhtar Khan, Pakistan’s special assistant to the prime minister on industries and production, and Laziz Kudratov, Uzbekistan’s minister of investment, industry and trade.
Pakistan and Uzbekistan have steadily expanded economic ties in recent years as Islamabad seeks greater access to landlocked Central Asian markets and aims to position itself as a regional transit and trade hub linking South Asia with Central Asia.
Pakistan was the first Central Asian partner with which Uzbekistan signed a bilateral Transit Trade Agreement, alongside a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) covering 17 items. The PTA was signed in March 2022 and became operational in 2023.
“The parties underscored the importance of the Preferential Trade Agreement, welcomed progress under Phase II concessions and agreed to expedite institutional mechanisms to achieve the agreed target of USD 2 billion in bilateral trade,” Pakistan’s Press Information Department (PID) said in a statement.
