26.02.2025

President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif held negotiations in a narrow format and with participation of the official delegations.

The entire range of issues on further expanding and strengthening Uzbek-Pakistani relations of strategic partnership was reviewed.

In the beginning of the meeting Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif expressed sincere gratitude to the President of our country for the warm and cordial welcome.

The Heads of state noted the dynamic development of multifaceted cooperation in the past years with deep satisfaction.

Active political contacts, fruitful interparliamentary and interagency exchanges continue. 

In 2024 the trade turnover exceeded $400 million, the quantity of joint enterprises reached 130. Trade houses are open in Karachi and Tashkent. Direct flights between Tashkent and Lahore are renewed. 

The meeting of the Intergovernmental commission, business-forums and a national industrial exhibition of Uzbekistan were successfully held.

In the course of the negotiations particular attention was paid to expanding trade and economic cooperation.

The importance of implementing coordinated measures for bringing the volume of trade to $2 billion based on the adopted “roadmap” was underlined. 

Expansion of the nomenclature of goods within the framework of the Preferential Trade Agreement, mutual simplification of phytosanitary and quarantine requirements, customs procedures, convergence of standards, integration of electronic trading platforms, ensuring access to the procurement system, improvement of interbank settlement mechanisms and others were identified as priority tasks.

The plans of leading companies to implement cooperation projects in pharmaceuticals, electrical engineering, agrarian sector, agricultural machinery, geology and mineral resources, textile, leather and other industries were reviewed.

In order to encourage business and cultural contacts between the regions, the Head of our state suggested organizing a Forum of Regions of the two countries in Uzbekistan.

Leaders of Uzbekistan and Pakistan particularly reviewed the issues of strengthening transport connectivity and utilizing the transit potential. 

It was noted with satisfaction that over the past few years the volume of cargo transportation through the multimodal corridor “Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan” has increased by 5 times. 

In order to further increase the volume of cargo turnover, an agreement has been reached on establishing a joint transport and logistics company.

The importance of coordinating joint efforts for practical promotion of the Trans-Afghanistan railroad construction project was also stressed.

An agreement was reached to hold the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission in July this year in the city of Lahore.

The sides advocated for further expansion of cultural, humanitarian and tourist exchange. In this context, it was agreed to hold mutual cultural weeks and presentations of tourism programs.

An exchange of views on the current international and regional agenda was also held. The importance of continuing mutual support within the framework of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, SCO and other multilateral structures was highlighted.

The President of Uzbekistan and the Prime Minister of Pakistan emphasized the need to join efforts in the fight against terrorism, radicalism, radicalism, Islamophobia and other contemporary security challenges.

In order to elaborate new areas of comprehensive cooperation, it was agreed to establish the Supreme Council of Strategic Partnership and hold its first meeting next year.

As a result of summit talks a decision was made on developing and approving a joint “roadmap” for the timely implementation of the agreements reached and signed.