The Ministry of Commerce on Monday asked the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) to examine trade opportunities in Kazakhstan. Through a letter dated September 16, 2010, the MoC has sought proposals from the authority for enhancing bilateral trade to be discussed in the forthcoming 7th session of the Pakistan-Kazakhstan Join Ministerial Commission (JMC).
Both the countries, besides discussing the implementation status of the trade agreements signed between the two countries in previous sessions, would also examine new ways of trade relations in the session to be held in Islamabad soon.
This session was being held after a break of two years. The 6th session was held in Astana on 18-20 April 2007. Both the governments in Islamabad and Astana had agreed to develop economic and trade co-operation and early meeting of the Pak-Kazakh JMC last year after a brief meeting between Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Pakistan, Bakhytbek Shabarbayev and Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf, sources said.
Pakistan, which was focusing on the Central Asian States for trade and economic relations, was considering Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Russian Federation as new and productive markets for its goods, sources said. Tough the existing trade volume with Kazakhstan was very negligible yet there was huge potential for Pakistani products in markets of Astana, sources said.
Th 7th session was being held at a time when Pakistan needs assistance and the world help to rehabilitate millions of displaced persons after the devastating floods. To enhance trade relations, the country has also signed "Quadrilateral Agreement" with China, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan to make a land route linking the four countries.
Pakistan's goods which are exported via Shahra-e-Karakoram to China, then to the two Central Asian Republics (CARs), could easily cross the Russian border with comparatively lesser freight cost, they added. According to sources while the neighbouring countries like India and Iran are deprived of road link with the Central Asian states, Pakistan was in a position to exploit Gwadar and Port Qasim facilities through Indus Highway and Karakoram Highway to have trade link with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan through China.
As China and the two Central Asian states have a land route link with Russia, Pakistan, enjoying the Quadrilateral Agreement and Free Trade Agreement (FTA) could also cross the Russian border through the same land route. A quadripartite agreement on traffic in transit between Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and China was signed in Islamabad on November 24, 1998. The implementation rules of this agreement were finalised and signed at a ministerial level meeting of the signatory countries on November 24, 1998.
In the previous session of Pak-Kazakh JMC, both countries had signed protocol to enhance co-operation in the fields of trade, economic, science and technology, education, communications, environment, tourism and water and power sectors.