The UzbekPak International Trade Center, as well as the UzbekPak Cultural Center, have opened in Karachi, Pakistan, the Dunyo news agency reports. The opening took place with the support of the Embassy of Uzbekistan and the Pakistani company Diners Group.
According to Sohail Moten, the head of the Diners Group, the trading house and cultural center will serve to revive regional interconnectedness between Uzbekistan and Pakistan, increase mutual trade and provide the necessary information for investors.
“The trading houses opening in Karachi and Tashkent will act as a permanent exhibition pavilion, raising awareness about the industrial goods of the two countries. We hope that this will significantly increase the share of mutual in exports and imports of Pakistan and Uzbekistan,” Sohail Moten said.
“The trading house will bring our peoples and national economies closer together. This will create the basis for the effective implementation of agreements reached at a high level in order to enrich the range of our trade relations with new units and increase trade turnover to $ 1 billion,” said Uzbek Ambassador Alisher Tukhtayev.
The trading house displays samples of industrial goods of Uzbekistan, including textiles, wool and leather, plastic granules and dried fruits.
In addition to Karachi, Uzbekistan and Pakistan plan to open trading houses in Tashkent, Samarkand and Lahore.
In 2024, Uzbekistan and Pakistan demonstrated a strong commitment to expanding trade and connectivity. This was evident in high-level engagements, including President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s visit to Pakistan and the meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific, and technical cooperation.
A key enabler for enhanced trade is the Transit Trade Agreement, which grants Uzbekistan access to Pakistani ports. Furthermore, the ambitious Trans-Afghan Corridor project, a planned railway linking Termez, Mazar-i-Sharif, Kabul, and Peshawar at an estimated cost of $5 billion, holds immense potential to significantly boost trade among Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan in the future.
Reflecting this growing economic partnership, trade volume between Uzbekistan and Pakistan surged during the first nine months of 2024, reaching US $ 311 million or 22.6% increase compared to the same period in 2023.///nCa, 7 January 2025