SIALKOT-Ambassador of Uzbekistan in Pakistan Mr Furqat Sidiqov said that Uzbekistan would open one “Uzbek Trade Centre” in Karachi and Rawalpindi each in August 2019 to promote mutual trade ties between Uzbekistan and Pakistan and with Central Asia.
Addressing a meeting of Sialkot exporters at Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) on Monday, he said that Uzbekistan was much keen to establish strong trade ties with Pakistan. He vowed to make all-out sincere efforts to boost these mutual trade ties.
SCCI President Kh Masud Akhtar presided over the meeting while senior Uzbek Embassy officials, SCCI Senior Vice President Waqas Akram Awan and former SCCI presidents Mian Naeem Javaid and Zahid Latif Malik also attended the meeting.
The Uzbek ambassador vowed to make all-out sincere efforts to boost mutual trade ties between Pakistan and Uzbekistan, saying that the time was ripe for further strengthening these mutual trade ties between the two countries. He said that Uzbekistan could play a role of gateway between Pakistan and even the Central Asian States. The Uzbek ambassador also pledged full support and technical assistance to ensure the easy access of Pakistan business community to international trade markets of Uzbekistan. He also agreed with SCCI proposal regarding the regular exchange of updated trade information and mutual trade delegations to enhance the trade between the two countries. He invited the Sialkot-Pakistan business community to divert their business activities to Uzbekistan besides participating in all the coming industrial exhibitions and trade fairs in Uzbekistan.
The Uzbek ambassador revealed that there were bright opportunities of setting up joint ventures between the business community of Sialkot-Pakistan and in different trade fields as the several companies were showing keen interest in this regard.
While presenting his address of welcome, SCCI President Kh Masud Akhtar said that both Pakistan and Uzbekistan were committed and making joint efforts towards the promotion of bilateral relations especially the trade. “Therefore, in order to overcome the problems for progressive development in every sector, it is important that we collaborate and develop a coordinated approach and strategy for the betterment of the people of the two brotherly countries.” He said that the potential was huge and commitment from both sides was strong, adding “We believe that we can take a big leap in bilateral trade in coming future.” He said that there was a lot of potential to increase mutual trade volume between Pakistan and Uzbekistan, saying that both sides needed to ponder on these factors for bringing improvements.
He said that both Pakistan and Uzbekistan should facilitate single country trade exhibitions and encourage frequent exchanges of trade delegations. They should also cooperate and enter into Joint Ventures which would lead to diversification of exports. He added that necessary visa facilitation should be provided to businessmen of both countries, and direct linkages and communication network between the business communities of Pakistan and Uzbekistan should be established.
Earlier, the Uzbek ambassador also visited the several leading industrial units in Sialkot. He witnessed the internationals standard craftsmanship of Sialkot based artisans and said that the Sialkot exporters had a great potential to explore and capture the international trade markets of Uzbekistan and to the Central Asia through Uzbekistan by exporting their world class traditional and non-traditional export products. He also hailed the unique export culture of Sialkot.