ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Friday urged businesspersons from both countries to help the two countries achieve a bilateral trade target of $2 billion within the next five years.

The two leaders made the call while addressing traders, industrialists from both countries at the Pakistan Uzbekistan Business Forum in Islamabad during President Mirziyoyev’s visit to the South Asian country.

Pakistan and Uzbekistan have steadily increased economic ties in recent years as Pakistan offers landlocked Central Asian states greater access to global markets, aiming to position itself as a regional transit hub.

Pakistan was the first Central Asian partner with which Uzbekistan signed a bilateral Transit Trade Agreement, along with a Preferential Trade Agreement in March 2022, covering 17 items, which became operational in 2023.

“We agreed that political goodwill must be matched by economic actions and words must be converted into implementation,” Sharif said, citing his visit to Tashkent last year which had helped brought annual bilateral trade to nearly $450 million.

“Today, ladies and gentlemen, we will strengthen last night’s protocol by signing another document today, which will give you vistas of opportunities to sit down together, B2B (business to business), have wonderful discussions with your counterparts and come to arrangements in terms of joint ventures, investments in Uzbekistan and Pakistan.”

Sharif was referring to the protocol signed between the two countries on Thursday to establish a joint working group to formulate a five-year action plan to take bilateral trade to $2 billion. Both sides also signed 28 agreements focused on areas such as defense cooperation, climate change, disaster risk reduction, disaster management, agriculture, exports of fruits, and mining and geosciences.

President Mirziyoyev said the increase in bilateral trade to half-a-billion dollars was an outcome of their talks held in Tashkent in Feb. last year.

“Over the course of very comprehensive and detailed discussions yesterday, we together decided that this is far [from] being enough,” he told businessperson from both countries.

The Uzbek president said business community is the “most important bridge” in linking the two nations and it was their job as heads of the state to ensure favorable conditions for them.

“Success of this agreement is in your hands,” he told the attendees, assuring them of eliminating any obstacles and bottlenecks in the process.

Later, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari conferred the Nishan-e-Pakistan, the highest civilian award of the country, on President Mirziyoyev at a televised ceremony.

The Nishan-e-Pakistan is awarded to individuals who have rendered services of highest distinction to the national interest of Pakistan and has often been conferred on visiting Heads of State as a mark of respect and friendship.