Tajikistan, KP agree to increase trade volume

PESHAWAR: Tajikistan and the KP government on Monday agreed to enhance trade ties by exploiting the investment opportunities in various sectors.

The understanding was reached as Tajikistan Ambassador Ismatullah Nasruddin visited Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment (KPBOIT) where he met Special Assistant to Chief Minister on industries and Trade Abdul Karim Khan, KPBOIT Vice-Chairman Said Mahmood and CEO Dr Hassan Daud Butt.

The KPBOIT vice-chairman welcomed the delegation and talked of the potential of bilateral trade with Tajikistan. Dr Hassan Daud Butt gave a detailed presentation on investment opportunities in KP in key sectors, including tourism, information technology, small economic zones, agriculture, livestock, mines and minerals, IT and hydel power.

He highlighted the top exports and imports of Pakistan with Tajikistan and emphasized the need to enhance bilateral trade. The special assistant to the chief minister for industries assured full cooperation from the KP government in promoting bilateral trade activities and in the province’s vast minerals, hydropower and tourism sectors.

Elaborating on investment opportunities, he said KP has a vast untouched natural potential that needed to be explored.The ambassador in his remarks stressed the importance of boosting bilateral trade ties. He highlighted the recent efforts to boost trade activities between the two countries and said that launching of air service for commercial purposes was the need of the hour as the two countries shared common values.

The ambassador invited a business delegation from KP to visit Tajikistan and to hold an exhibition of Pakistani local products at Dushanbe. He also mentioned that meeting of the delegation with Tajikistan government officials would be arranged during the visit.

The ambassador said four to five areas of mutual cooperation must be identified before the visit to work on. At the end of the briefing, the KPBOIT chief proposed a few recommendations, including forming a working group to enhance trade cooperation between the two countries as the two countries were good neighbours.

He said a visit of the official delegation from KP led by the business community would be scheduled in May this year and an exhibition of industrial and cultural products would be part of the official visit.

A former vice-president of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Manzoor Elahi, gave recommendations to enhance bilateral trade with Tajikistan. The briefing was followed by a visit of the ambassador and the delegation to the Torkham border crossing where senior officials from Pakistan Customs gave a briefing on the bilateral trade.Issues related to transit trade with Afghanistan, Tajikistan and other Central Asian Republics were highlighted during the presentation and possible solutions were discussed.