Uzbek Ambassador Oybek Arif Umanov has said Uzbekistan will consider entering into a tri-partite agreement with Pakistan and Afghanistan in order to gain access to Pakistani ports at Karachi and Gwadar. In a special interview ahead of the 17th anniversary of Uzbekistan Independence on September 1, Umanov said Pakistan and Uzbekistan had great potential to increase bilateral economic, political, cultural and diplomatic ties. He said, “Trilateral agreement will help increase volume of bilateral trade.” He said the two countries had already signed more than 29 agreements and MOUs.
He was optimistic for enhancement in joint ventures and FDI. He said an agreement on transit trade, signed by former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Tashkent, had opened broad perspectives for exchange of trade. The ambassador said first Pakistani truck of Pak Caspian Trade Links Company reached Uzbekistan on April 17 2008 and opened up a corridor for transit cargo to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan through Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. The truck carried Pakistani products through Afghanistan to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and brought back goods and chemicals from Uzbekistan. He said Pakistan and Uzbekistan agreed to establish joint ventures in textile, pharmaceutical and leather industries and exchanging technology to be used in healthcare sector on March 8 last year during the third session of Pak-Uzbekistan Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC).
