Pakistan and Uzbekistan here on Wednesday agreed for enhancing bilateral trade and investment relations, particularly agriculture trade and machinery development via joint ventures to develop and promote local agriculture sector on modern lines.
The agreement to this regard was developed in meeting between Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Uzbekistan to Pakistan Oybek Usmanov, said a news release.
Adviser to Ministry Dr Akmal Siddique and Senior Joint Secretary Ministry of National Food Security and Research Javed Humayun were also attended the meeting.
The minister welcomed the Uzbekistan’s interest in investing in development of agriculture machinery in Pakistan via joint ventures and said that Pakistan’s 60 percent exports are of textile industry, adding that country has predominantly
agro-economy and value addition in this sector is vital for future economic growth.
He said Pakistan exported 3.7 million tonne of rice last year and this year has twice of that available for export. He welcomed Uzbekistan’s interest in importing rice from Pakistan.
Fakhar said the two countries could immensely benefit from exchange in agriculture research and value-added technologies and praised the quality of mechanization in Uzbekistan and said that Uzbekistan and Pakistan have huge trade potential.—APP
