Chairman BoI leaves for Uzbekistan to participate in investment conference

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State and Chairman Board of Investment Muhammad Azfar Ahsan on Sunday has left for Uzbekistan to participate in several high-level trilateral meetings and represent Pakistan at the forums.

The Chairman BOI will also meet President of Uzbekistan on the sidelines of these meetings and will interact with potential investors from many countries as head of delegation from Pakistan for B2B meetings, said a press release issued by BoI here.

Chairman BoI Azfar Ahsan will be the keynote speaker at the inaugural session “Tashkent International Investment Forum” which will be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on March 24-26, 2022.

Azfar Ahsan will be sharing the stage with the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

The Forum will be convened under the theme “Realizing New Growth Agenda” and targets to bring over 2000 leaders from government, business, civil society, media and academia to discuss and shape regional as well as industry agendas.

President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev will deliver his opening speech at the event and several other representatives from public and private sector will share insight about regional trade and investment.

The forum aims to explore areas of trilateral cooperation among Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan and revolves around discussing the investment potential of Central Asia, transformations in trade flows in Central Asia, digitalization of transport systems, attracting Investments in tourism sector, production modernization and new agricultural markets etc.

Chairman BoI will also participate in the trilateral meeting between Uzbekistan, Pakistan & Afghanistan to discuss a potential railway project.

The proposed railway line track from Termez – Mazar-e-Sharif – Kabul – Peshawar will be discussed during the meeting.

Uzbekistan, being a landlocked country, has been dependent on Iran’s trade routes for its imports and exports and the sanctions on Iran have made it difficult for Uzbekistan to continue using the same route.

In this context, the President of Uzbekistan has been keen to peruse the idea of a railway line track to Pakistan through Afghanistan for its future trade activities. The idea was discussed on various international forums including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

The third engagement of Chairman BoI during his visit will be a meeting with the Minister of Transport of the Republic of Uzbekistan I. Makhkamov and head of delegation of Afghanistan in Termez.

During this session, available conditions of cargo transportation in Pakistan and proposals for increasing the volume of traffic between the three countries will be discussed from Pakistan’s side.

The visit can be seen as being of paramount importance for Pakistan on diplomatic and economic front as it comes at a time when strategic ties between Uzbekistan and Pakistan are moving in an upward trajectory.

Chairman BOI envisages that the visit will culminate into fruitful economic cooperation between the three countries and will further strengthen diplomatic and strategic ties.