Minister, Uzbek envoy discuss trade

Islamabad: The Uzbekistan-Pakistan Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Trade-Economical and Scientific-Technical Cooperation will meet by the end of the current year to explore opportunities to expand trade between the two countries.

This was decided during a working dinner hosted by Uzbekistan Ambassador Furqat A Sidiqov for Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Sahibzada Muhammad Mehboob Sultan at his residence here.

The ambassador and the minister discussed ways and means to increase Uzbek-Pak cooperation in the fields of agriculture, food security, trade, and scientific partnership.

They also spoke about the organisational matters regarding the next meeting of the Uzbekistan-Pakistan Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Trade-Economical and Scientific-Technical Cooperation and agreed that the commission would meet in Tashkent by the end of the current year.

The two also agreed to the idea of including the members of the Uzbekistan-Pakistan Business Council to the Pakistani delegation for that meeting. The minister said Pakistan was committed to increasing cooperation with Uzbekistan in the fields of cotton cultivation, transfer from Uzbekistan scientific inventions and conduct joint scientific projects.

He said last year, Uzbekistan became the largest trade partner in Central Asia. The minister said he was happy to see the volume of trade between the two countries increase in a dynamic manner, especially in the agricultural sector, and wanted better bilateral support and cooperation in other fields as well.

Also in attendance were Center for Global & Strategic Studies vice-president Major-General (r) Hafiz Masroor Ahmad, CGSS advisory board member Brigadier (r) Abdullah Khan, and CGSS executive director and Uzbekistan-Pakistan Business Council vice-president Lieutenant Colonel (r) Khalid Taimur Akram.