Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 22 February, an expanded meeting of heads of key ministries and departments of Uzbekistan and Pakistan was held in Islamabad. The delegation of Uzbekistan was headed by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Sardor Umurzakov, and the Pakistani side - Advisor to the Prime Minister on Investments and Trade Abdul Razzak Dawood.

The meeting made it possible to substantively discuss and agree on a wide range of issues of Uzbek-Pakistani cooperation in the field of investment, industrial, trade, transport and logistics cooperation, develop mechanisms for further interaction and identify priority tasks for the near future.

The heads of ministries, departments, and industry associations of the two countries noted the significant untapped potential for further expansion of economic partnership and spoke in favor of the need to implement practical measures to increase the number of joint investment and infrastructure projects, increase bilateral trade and strengthen transport ties between the two states. Concrete algorithms for bilateral cooperation on the development of industrial cooperation in the chemical, textile, food and pharmaceutical industries, the consistent elimination of existing trade barriers and the establishment of interregional cooperation are proposed.

During the meeting, the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the Uzbek-Pakistani Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation was also discussed. The participants exchanged views on promising areas of cooperation and put forward a number of proposals for the implementation of joint projects and initiatives. An agreement was reached to intensify interaction in the context of ministries and departments in order to fill the upcoming event with practical content.