Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - On 14 July, in Tashkent, on the eve of the visit of the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to Uzbekistan, the Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov met with the adviser to the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Abdul Razzak Dawood.

During the talks, the sides discussed the current agenda of the Uzbek-Pakistani partnership, the course of preparations for bilateral events within the framework of the upcoming high-level visit, as well as new promising areas for expanding multifaceted interaction.

They voiced mutual readiness to implement effective measures to deepen trade and economic, industrial, investment, transport and logistics, cultural, humanitarian and scientific and technological cooperation.

Special attention was paid to strengthening bilateral investment cooperation. The parties agreed to work together to intensify industrial cooperation and increase the number of joint ventures by using the competitive advantages of the economies of the two countries for the effective promotion of manufactured products in foreign markets. In particular, a significant potential for partnership in agriculture, meaning the creation of joint ventures for deep processing of fruits and vegetables for the subsequent export of finished products to third countries was noted. In addition, there are opportunities for the implementation of projects in the textile, leather and footwear and pharmaceutical industries, as well as agricultural engineering.

It was noted that over the past year, there has been a positive dynamics of growth in mutual trade between the countries. It was emphasized that in 2020 the volume of trade between Uzbekistan and Pakistan increased by 20% compared to the previous year, and for 5 months of this year, trade turnover increased 2.5 times compared to the same period of last year. An agreement was reached to speed up the negotiation process to agree on a preferential trade agreement between the two countries, the signing of which will be an important step in further strengthening bilateral trade ties.

An agreement was reached on combining the efforts of the Ministries of Transport of Uzbekistan and Pakistan in order to develop new proposals for deepening cooperation in the transport and logistics sector. In this context, the parties also discussed the progress of cooperation on the implementation of the project for the construction of the Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway and expressed their commitment to the implementation of the agreements included in the relevant Roadmap, which was signed in February 2021 following a high-level trilateral meeting. in Tashkent.

The prerequisites for the development of cooperation in the tourism sector, including in the field of pilgrimage ("ziyorat") tourism, were also noted.

Following the meeting, the parties agreed to interact on a regular basis in order to accelerate real current agreements and work out new areas of bilateral cooperation.