Ambassador of Uzbekistan Furqat Sidiqov has invited Pakistani private sector to join hands with Uzbek businessmen in the fields of pharmaceutical, textile, fertilizer and other sectors of economy. While speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the ambassador said that Uzbekistan is keen to enhance trade relations with Pakistan as both the countries have great potential to cooperate with each other in many areas of economy.
He said Uzbekistan is very much interested to have Pakistan's pharmaceutical products that were quite competitive in terms of price and quality. He also identified tourism, agriculture, food processing, automobile, construction, chemicals, oil & gas, mining and electronics as other potential areas of mutual cooperation between both the countries.
He invited the Lahore Chamber to form a sector-specific delegation for Uzbekistan and his Embassy would extend all possible cooperation to make its visit successful. Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Malik Tahir Javaid said that trade diplomacy is a must to strengthen mutual trade and economic relations and for that matter the LCCI kept a close liaison with the heads of foreign missions in Pakistan.
Pakistan and Uzbekistan have deep-rooted historical ties and both are situated in a region of great geo-strategic importance. It is good to see that both countries collaborate closely on multilateral forums including the United Nations, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Economic Cooperation Organization and Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Malik Tahir Javaid said that current level of our bilateral trade is less than one percent of total volume of trade which hardly reflects these ties but both countries can create win-win situation for each other. Pakistan is wishing to gain access to Central Asian markets and the landlocked Uzbekistan is wishing to access ports on the Arabian Sea.
LCCI president said it is high time that both the countries work together for making appropriate reforms in trade policies to facilitate trade, investment and free flow of goods and services. In addition to that we should also exploit the potential of tourism available in two countries.