Islamabad: Vladimir Norov, Director, Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies of Uzbekistan along with H.E.Furqat A. Sidikov, Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Pakistan visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and addressing the business community, stressed that Pakistan and Uzbekistan should focus on exploiting their geographical proximity for promoting bilateral trade and economic relations to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes for their economies. Maj. Gen. (Retd) Khalid Amir Jaffery, President. Center for Global and Strategic Studies of Pakistan also accompanied them.
Vladimir Norov said that Uzbekistan had US$ 520million bilateral trade with Afghanistan and our target was to take it to US$ 1 billion. However, with Pakistan its trade was just around US$ 24 million despite the fact that both countries have great potential to promote trade in many areas. He urged that Pakistan and Uzbekistan should accord high priority to improving two-way trade that would bring many benefits to the people of two nations.
He said Pakistan and Uzbekistan could cooperate in many fields including textiles, agriculture, energy, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and others. He said Uzbekistan has established 7 Free Economic Zones with attractive incentives for foreign investors and has envisaged 650 projects involving an investment of US$40 billion. He emphasized that Pakistani investors should explore joint ventures and investment opportunities in Uzbekistan.
