Pak-Uzbekistan removes basic hurdles to promote bilateral trade

FAISALABAD: Uzbekistan Ambassador Mr. Furqat A. Siddiqov said on Monday that direct and basic hurdles had been removed to promote bilateral trade between Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

Steps are underway to promote banking and air services in addition to ensuring safe transit of trade consignments through Afghanistan.

Addressing the members of the business community at Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry, he said that Uzbekistan was an historic centre of Islamic heritage and culture.

"I have come here from the land of 'Imam Bokhari' with a message of peace and love for Pakistani brethren," he said.

Regarding trade, he said that it had recorded a three times growth as compared to last year. He said that Uzbekistan Air was managing weekly flight between Lahore and Tashkent while steps were being taken to start direct flights between Karachi and Tashkent.

About banking channels, he said that a branch of National Bank of Pakistan was already operating in Tashkent while a Swiss bank was also expected to establish its branch to provide international banking facilities.

To a question, he said that Uzbek government was also contemplating to start Islamic banking and in this connection steps were underway.

He further said that Uzbekistan was importing sugar, pharmaceutical and potato from Pakistan while it could export agriculture machinery to Pakistan.

The Uzbek Ambassador said that Pakistan and Uzbekistan were cotton producing countries and his objective to visit Faisalabad was to encourage cooperation in textile sector. He said that many Pakistani companies were already doing business with Uzbekistan while there were huge opportunities to launch joint ventures in this specific field. In this connection, Uzbekistan had taken bold decisions by establishing Cotton technical centres which could equally benefit both the countries.

He also mentioned the facilities extended to the Pakistani investors and told that credit facility would also be provided to the foreign investors.

Regarding trade through road, he said that Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan were considering a joint proposal to open land route through Afghanistan by offering logistic, trade and transit facilities to the exporters of this region.

He further said that road distance between Pakistan and Uzbekistan was only 700 miles through which it could also have access to the other landlocked Central Asian states in addition to making exports to the European Union countries. He said that efforts in this connection were underway which would yield positive results very soon.

The ambassador said that there are 14 Export Processing Zones (EPZ) across Uzbekistan where protection and incentives would also be provided to the foreign investors, who will invest at least 100 million dollars.

During the Question-Answer session, Furqat A Siddiqov said that old information was rife among business community as the ground realities had altogether been changed now.

He said that Uzbek exports recorded 59 per cent increase during 2018, while his country was exporting cotton, cotton yarn and cotton fabric.

He offered businessmen of Faisalabad to launch joint ventures to avail benefits from the high quality and long staple cotton of Uzbekistan for the benefit of the two countries. He rejected apprehensions about Uzbek Air and said that people prefer to travel through the airline.

Earlier, Mian Tanveer Ahmad, acting president FCCI, introduced Faisalabad and the FCCI. He said Faisalabad is the third thickly populated city of Pakistan. "It contributed 45 per cent share towards the total textile export of the country," he added.

Regarding the FCCI, he said that it is serving the business community of Faisalabad for the last 44 years while the total numbers of its members are 7000.

He further told that although textile is the iconic identification of this city, other sectors are also playing their role in overall exports of Pakistan.

He observed that the bilateral trade between the two countries is far less that their existing potential and hence efforts should be expedited to ensure increase of $300 million per annum.

He also stressed the need for direct links between the business communities of the two countries and offered a proposal to ink a MoU between FCCI and Uzbekistan Chamber.

During the session, it was disclosed that Uzbek Business Council is organizing a business-cum-tourism delegation from April 19 to 20.

Two separate documentaries about FCCI and Uzbekistan were screened while kashif Zia, Engineer Ahmad Hasan and Shoaib Sana participated in the question-answer session.

Later, Engineer Ahmad Hasan offered vote of thanks and presented the FCCI shield to the Uzbek ambassador along with other members.

Uzbek Ambassador Furqat A Siddiqov also reciprocated the gesture and presented a memento of Uzbek Embassy to Acting President Mian Tanveer Ahmad.

The ambassador also recorded his impressions in the Visitors' Book and thanked the people of Faisalabad for their love and hospitality.