ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan should increase annual bilateral trade from around $16 million to $200 million within two years, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday, calling for a formal agreement to achieve the target.

Sharif made the remarks alongside Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov in Bishkek after talks during which the two countries signed a joint statement and a series of agreements covering transit trade, education, technology, security and other areas.

Landlocked Kyrgyzstan is among the Central Asian states with which Pakistan has been seeking greater economic and transport connectivity, offering access through its Arabian Sea ports while looking to open new trade routes into Central Asia and the wider Eurasian region. Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan had already set a target in December 2025 of raising bilateral trade to $200 million by 2027-28.

“Our present day bilateral trade hovers around $16 million, which is not a patch on our friendship, our brotherhood, and our very strong relations,” Sharif said.

“Today, we should have signed not an MOU, but an agreement to make sure that in the next two years, we increase our bilateral trade from $16 million to $200 million per annum.”

Sharif said the two countries would work on practical measures to increase trade, promote joint investment projects, strengthen industrial cooperation and expand direct contacts between businesses.

Additionally, a transit trade agreement signed during Wednesday’s visit is aimed at facilitating the movement of goods and improving logistics between the two countries. Sharif said Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan had also agreed to work toward simplifying transport, customs and administrative procedures.

In a statement shared by the Pakistani foreign office, Zhaparov said Pakistan’s seaports offered Kyrgyzstan a route to South Asian markets and wider global trade, while his country could serve as a transport bridge giving Pakistan greater access to Central Asia and the wider Eurasian region.

The two leaders also discussed cooperation under CASA-1000, a $1.2 billion regional energy project designed to transmit surplus electricity from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan. The project is intended to supply 1,000 megawatts of electricity to Pakistan and 300 megawatts to Afghanistan, primarily during the summer.

Sharif said the two sides had established a joint working group to explore cooperation in electricity, hydropower, renewable energy, energy infrastructure and modern technologies.

The countries also agreed to expand cooperation in areas including pharmaceuticals, agriculture, tourism and the digital economy. According to Pakistan’s state-run APP news agency, the agreements signed on Wednesday included an extradition treaty and accords covering transit trade, medical education, climate change, counter-narcotics cooperation and virtual assets.

The two sides also formulated a draft agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, while institutions from both countries signed agreements covering academic and strategic research, postal services and e-commerce, business cooperation and a sister-city relationship between Lahore and the Kyrgyz city of Osh.