Uzbekistan: Much to import, much more to export

“Pakistan has over USD $40 million of trade with Uzbekistan, hopes to increase in future," Ambassador Waheed-ul-Hasan.

TASHKENT: With Pakistan facing an energy crisis and in the hunt for alternative export markets, Uzbekistan, the largest and richest country in Central Asia with 29 million people and vast natural resources, provides for a potential trade destination, said Mohammad Waheed-ul-Hasan, ambassador of Pakistan to Uzbekistan. He was talking to The Express Tribune in Tashkent.

Mohammad Waheed-ul-Hasan has been performing his duties since September 11, 2009 in near neighbour Uzbekistan. "Being very close to each other, I personally endeavour to focus on economic and commercial cooperation between the two countries. Luckily, two commercial delegations have visited here from Pakistan in my two year tenure,”he says.

About bilateral relations he says, "We (Pakistan and Uzbekistan) have cordial relations with each other which entail some special reasons. When this country got its independence, a high level delegation from Pakistan explained to the Uzbeki government that we have centuries old cultural and traditional bonds. Since then both countries have enjoyed great relations along with high level exchange visits being held every now and then."

Pakistan was the third country to open its embassy in Uzbekistan while the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was the first non CIS airline to fly there. Over past 20 years both the countries have seen an improvement in bilateral relations.

There is much to import, much more to export

“Officially, we have just crossed USD $40 million of trade with Uzbekistan and are looking to increase it in coming years," Hasan shared.

With cotton crops being affected due to floods over the past couple of years, the textile sector of Pakistan has looked towards its Central Asian neighbour for raw material. "It is the sixth largest producer and third largest exporter of cotton in the world. Last year alone Pakistan's import bill was $30 million of which $20 million dollars was only cotton imported," the ambassador revealed.

Trade balance is not only in the negative for Pakistan vis-a-vis Uzbekistan, since it is also a huge market for pharmaceuticals (medical, surgical and beauty products) for Pakistan. Praising the pharmaceutical industry of Pakistan, Hasan said, “Pakistani Pharmaceutical industry is known for its quality compared to many other countries. Hence the focus from the very beginning is to improve pharmaceutics export to Uzbekistan. Last year Uzbekistan imported $5 million worth of pharmaceutics which consisted 50% of the trade from Pakistan.”

“Moreover, garments are also imported from Pakistan country, and are liked very much here."

Hasan urged the Pakistani Business Community to focus on , he said, "I personally want Pakistani business community to focus more in Uzbekistan because there is great potential here. Uzbekistan has $22 billion dollars in trade with their economy growing on average at eight per cent per annum. This is an expanding market has huge capacity for Pakistani businessman to focus ."

(Read: Pakistan, Uzbekistan to discuss market opening later this month)