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Uzbek think tank director rues low trade volume with Pakistan

By our correspondents
December 22, 2017

Islamabad : Vladimir Norov, Director, Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies of Uzbekistan along with Furqat A. Sidikov, Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Pakistan visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and addressing the business community, stressed that Pakistan and Uzbekistan should focus on exploiting their geographical proximity for promoting bilateral trade and economic relations to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes for their economies.

Maj. Gen. (r) Khalid Amir Jaffery, President. Centre for Global and Strategic Studies of Pakistan also accompanied them. Vladimir Norov said that Uzbekistan had $520 million bilateral trade with Afghanistan and our target was to take it to $1 billion. However, with Pakistan its trade was just around $24 million despite the fact that both countries have great potential to promote trade in many areas. He urged that Pakistan and Uzbekistan should accord high priority to improving two-way trade that would bring many benefits to the people of two nations.

He said Pakistan and Uzbekistan could cooperate in many fields including textiles, agriculture, energy, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and others. He said Uzbekistan has established 7 Free Economic Zones with attractive incentives for foreign investors and has envisaged 650 projects involving an investment of US$40 billion. He emphasized that Pakistani investors should explore joint ventures and investment opportunities in Uzbekistan.

Speaking at the occasion, Sheikh Amir Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Pakistan accorded great importance to its close relations with Uzbekistan and wanted to strengthen these relations in many fields.