By Ahmed Mukhtar Naqshbandi
ISLAMABAD: Upon the completion of the proposed trilateral Trans-Afghan Railway project, the Pak-Uzbek trade would boost to a multi-billion-dollar partnership, Uzbek Ambassador to Islamabad Oybek Arif Usmanov hoped on Tuesday as he talked to the Worldecho.
In an exclusive interview, he said that the planned project – which would connect Pakistan’s Peshawar to the historic Uzbek city of Termez via Afghanistan – would play a vital role in regional connectivity; particularly in enhancing economic cooperation and trade, and increasing people-to-people contact between the two brotherly nations.
Huge potential in Pak-Uzbek trade
The Uzbek ambassador said the trade volume between the two countries surged at an exceptional rate during the past few years, growing from $101 million in 2020 to $181 million in 2021 and $240 million in 2022. He said the next target was to enhance the bilateral trade volume between the two countries to one billion within the next two years. He added that regular online and direct meetings of officials and businessmen were underway for this purpose.
Regional connectivity
The ambassador hoped that the fast train project between Pakistan and Uzbekistan – proposed by Shavkat Mirziyoyev – would significantly reduce the travel time between the two countries, therefore, paving way for further opportunities regarding trade, commerce and tourism.
He said that Pakistan had the potential to become a transit hub that, in future, would connect Central Asian Republics (CARs) and Eurasian states with Asia Pacific and South Asian countries. He added that with the operationalization of CPEC, Pakistan would provide connectivity to Arabian sea and beyond, while Uzbekistan will help Pakistan to connect to Russia and Europe.
People-to-people contact
Usmanov urged the need to enhance people-to-people connections between the two brotherly nations; particularly, among their youth. He added that enhancing mutual ties between Pakistan and Uzbekistan was actually an attempt “to reconnect the two countries” as the people of both nations were already intertwined in strong bonds of religion, culture and traditions that date back to history. He added, for this purpose, the governments of both countries were working on projects such as study scholarships and cultural exchanges that would explore the vast commonalities between Pakistan and Uzbekistan.
Cultural exchange
Shedding light on the cultural similarities between Uzbekistan and Pakistan, he said the historic Uzbek cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, and Termez had a lot in common with Pakistan’s cultural hubs of Multan, Bahawalpur and Lahore due to shared culture and religion that was particularly engrained into Sufism. The Uzbek ambassador said that Tashkent and Islamabad were also working on cultural exchange projects such as jointly producing a film on the first Mughal emperor Zaheer-ud-din Babar, to educate the youth about the shared heritage of both countries. He added that the move to declare the Peshawar and Termez sister cities was a key step towards enhancing cultural ties between the brotherly Islamic countries.
Brotherly Muslim nations, Pakistan and Uzbekistan are members of different international and regional forums including the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Their bilateral relations have grown in recent times and cooperation is on the rise between the two important countries of South Asia and Central Asia. The two countries have vast potential to engage in various sectors including trade, tourism, education, health, and energy projects.
