ISLAMABAD: The 8th Pakistan-Uzbekistan Joint Ministerial Commission started in Tashkent to explore ways to enhance the economic, trade and commercial relations between the two countries and speed up the implementation of the already agreed agreements.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar co-chaired the meeting.

On the sidelines of the ministerial, Mr Dar also called on Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and special attention was paid to the implementation of important agreements signed on transit and preferential trade, said an official announcement of the finance ministry.

In addition, within the framework of the agenda of intergovernmental negotiations, the importance of promoting specific cooperation projects in various sectors of the economy was noted.

Both sides touched upon the need for the development of bilateral bus services and the acceleration of the railway construction project, which connects Central and South Asia through Afghanistan and leads to the ports of Pakistan.

Ahead of the commission meeting, Mr Dar and Minister of Investments, Industry and Trade Laziz Kudratov discussed the ways to enhance the economic, trade and commercial relations between Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

During the meeting further expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation, first of all, practical aspects of the implementation of projects in the trade, investment and transport sectors were discussed.

In December 2022, Pakistan and Uzbekistan signed nine memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to increase cooperation in various fields and prepare an action plan to boost the trade volume to $1 billion.

The two sides agreed to implement Pak-Uzbekistan Preferential Trade Agree¬ment (PTA) from February 2023, as the Uzbekistan side will complete internal formalities in January and the Pakistan side has already completed the same. Talks on PTA were initiated by the PTI government.

However, the PTA has yet to be implemented.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2023