Pakistan, Uzbekistan step up trade, investment cooperation

Pakistan and Uzbekistan agreed on Tuesday to maintain close follow-up across trade facilitation, connectivity, mining cooperation and food security initiatives, with the shared objective of translating strong political goodwill into measurable trade and investment outcomes.

“Jam Kamal Khan, Federal Minister for Commerce, held a detailed meeting in Islamabad with Laziz Kudratov, Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan, to review progress in bilateral economic cooperation and agree on practical steps to accelerate trade, investment, connectivity and sectoral partnerships,” the Ministry of Commerce said in a press release today.

During the meeting, the minister noted that Pakistan–Uzbekistan engagement had intensified significantly over the past two years through frequent high-level contacts and institutional follow-up, and “stressed that the priority now is to materialize opportunities by closing gaps in logistics, business linkages and implementation”.

The minister also reaffirmed Pakistan’s full support for Uzbekistan across trade development initiatives.

Meanwhile, the Uzbek minister said the two sides were preparing for a forthcoming high-level visit from Uzbekistan, expressing confidence that it would represent another significant milestone in bilateral relations.

“He highlighted improving trade indicators, sharing that bilateral trade had increased by around 10 percent last year, with Uzbekistan’s imports from Pakistan rising by about 12 percent, while Uzbek exports to Pakistan grew by around 8 percent,” as per the statement.

“He underlined the need to balance and scale trade, setting an ambitious target of $2 billion in bilateral trade through deeper industrial cooperation and new sectoral collaboration”.

A major focus of the meeting was progress on trade facilitation and market access, with the Uzbek side appreciating the constructive negotiations on the preferential trade framework, “including expansion of the product coverage list from 34 to 92 items, and indicated interest in broadening cooperation into services and investment-led arrangements over time”.

Moreover, the Uzbekistan minister also noted that 228 Pakistani companies were currently operating in Uzbekistan and that 80 new companies were registered there in the last year alone.

“Both sides discussed expanding partnerships in priority sectors including food security, mining, textiles, leather, and pharmaceuticals, alongside value-added manufacturing and specialized industrial cooperation,” the ministry said.

The Uzbek Minister said Uzbek companies are keen to explore investment and projects in Pakistan as well, including in food security and meat production, rice cultivation opportunities, and mining.

The two sides also reviewed the positive momentum in people-to-people and business connectivity, welcoming the resumption and scaling up of direct air links.

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The Uzbekistan side shared that flights had restarted and expanded to multiple weekly frequencies from Islamabad and Lahore, with additional services planned from Karachi, aiming to reach six flights per week between the two countries—“an increase expected to strengthen commercial travel, tourism and trade engagement”.

On regional connectivity and logistics, both sides discussed challenges stemming from disruption of traditional routes, particularly due to border and transit constraints in the neighborhood.

The meeting also explored alternative corridors and the role of National Logistics Corporation in routing cargo through the northern corridor and via Kashgar as a logistics and warehousing hub.

The Uzbek side shared that Pakistani logistics operators have begun shifting cargo through the northern route regularly, though with higher costs and longer delivery times.

“A key outcome of the discussion was the proposal to pursue a multi-country “green corridor” arrangement involving Pakistan, China and Central Asian partners to facilitate smoother movement of goods, supported by clear legal and operational mechanisms.

The Uzbek side urged coordinated engagement with Chinese authorities to address bottlenecks, and welcomed the idea of leveraging warehousing capacity in Kashgar, including logistics facilities offered for use to support onward movement of cargo. Both sides agreed that diversified routes are essential to strengthen resilience in regional trade.”

The Uzbekistan minister also briefed on its deep expertise—built over decades—in exploration, laboratories and both open-pit and shaft mining, and “shared that a specialized overseas geology and mining services company has been established to provide services outside Uzbekistan”.

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The Uzbek delegation indicated readiness to work with Pakistani partners on exploration services, knowledge transfer, and joint projects, while also engaging with Pakistan’s geological institutions, the ministry said.

Concluding the meeting, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to deepening Pakistan–Uzbekistan economic ties through accelerated implementation, sustained institutional coordination, and expanded B2B engagement.