LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad has said Pakistan and Uzbekistan should make joint efforts to strengthen the mutual trade and economic ties.
He was talking to Uzbekistan Ambassador Furkat Sidikov here at the LCCI where Executive Committee Members Mian Zahid Javed and Rizwan Akhtar Shamsi were also present.
The LCCI president said that both Pakistan and Uzbekistan have good diplomatic relations and enjoy historical bonds of Islamic brotherhood but these ties are hardly reflected in two way trade. He said that in 2013, the value of bilateral trade was dollar 4.2 million which dropped to dollar 3.0 million in 2014. It should be a matter of concern for both sides that from the last two years, the worth of imports made from Uzbekistan remained stagnant at just dollar 0.7 million whereas Pakistan’s exports have declined from dollar 3.5 million to dollar 2.3 million.
The main reason of such a low level of bilateral trade is that both countries are not aware about each other’s markets. The commercial sections of our respective embassies should prepare survey reports about our markets and send the same to the concerned national chambers so that business communities of both countries could be updated. For the sake of increasing contacts between private sectors from Pakistan and Uzbekistan and enhancing bilateral trade, we need to ensure maximum trade facilitation
Ambassador Furkat Sidikov said that both countries should ensure dissemination of trade related information to enhance the mutual trade volume. He said that there is a great potential for joint ventures in the sectors of agricultural machinery, textile, pharmaceuticals and fruits and vegetables.
