PESHAWAR, Feb 19: Uzbekistan will seek technical expertise from Pakistan for sugarcane and sugar-beet production and processing, said Uzbek ambassador to Pakistan, Oybek Arif Usmanov, here on Monday.

The ambassador said Pakistan and Uzbekistan had agreed to cooperate in the agriculture sector for which a joint working group would start working by March 5.

The working group having experts and officials from agriculture ministries of the two countries would look into the possibility of developing joint ventures, the Uzbek envoy told the local business community at the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI).

Before his meeting with the business community in the provincial capital, the Uzbek ambassador visited Mardan where he witnessed sugarcane crop and its processing in sugar mills.

Uzbekistan meets its domestic demand of sugar through imports and wants to introduce sugarcane crop and processing facilities in the former Communist state.

Mr Usmanov said his country wanted greater economic cooperation with Pakistan, adding that the formation of a joint working group in the agriculture sector was a step in that direction.

He was of the view that bilateral relations between the two countries had witnessed tremendous boost for the last two years, when President Gen Pervez Musharraf and his Uzbek counterpart paid visits to each other’s country.

Following the visits, at least 29 agreements of cooperation were reached between the two countries in various fields, he said and added that at present three direct flights from Lahore to Tashkent had been initiated, while similar flights from Karachi to Tashkent were on the cards.

Mr Usmanov explained that the Uzbekistan government was in transitional phase of building its trade with the outside world and was keen to attract foreign investment.

He said tourism was a potential sector of his country, adding that 16 Pakistani companies had signed MoUs with Uzbekistan in this regard.

He asked the office-bearers of the SCCI to draft an MoU to be signed with the Uzbekistan Chamber of Trade and Commerce which he believed would pave the way for exchange of trade delegations between the two countries.

The Uzbekistan Chamber of Trade and Commerce, he said, had already signed such an MoU with the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry following which business delegations from Punjab had made several trip to Tashkent.

Meanwhile, Rauf Engin Soysal, the newly-appointed ambassador of Turkey also held a meeting with the business community at the SCCI, where he pledged to strengthen economic cooperation with Pakistan by bringing the business communities of the two countries closer.

Mr Soysal was of the view that Pakistan and Turkey had unique relations which could not be compared with any other country. He said both the countries had supported each other on various occasions.

Earlier speaking on the occasion, Haji Mohammad Israr, senior vice-president of the SCCI, emphasised the need for boosting trade and business ties among the three Muslim countries.

He said that the NWFP was gifted with natural potential for hydropower generation and enjoyed huge mineral deposits and soil resources, including precious and semi-precious stones, marble and granite, medical herbs and fruits and vegetable.

He urged both the diplomats to encourage joint ventures that would strengthen economic relations between the two countries.

Later, the Turkish ambassador called on Peshawar Corps Commander Lt-Gen Hamid Khan at the Corps Headquarters, said an ISPR press release.