ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan have signed an agreement to increase annual bilateral trade to $200 million, the Pakistani information minister said on Wednesday, as both countries seek deeper economic and transport links between South and Central Asia.

The agreement came during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s official visit to Bishkek, where he held talks with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov on trade, investment, energy and regional connectivity and oversaw the signing of a series of agreements.

Current bilateral trade stands at around $16 million, a fraction of the $200 million annual target the two governments now aim to reach within two years.

"The Prime Minister has turned words into action by signing the agreement at the airport," Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarrar told Arab News. "The agreement was signed on the Prime Minister's request."

Speaking at a joint presser with Zhaparov earlier, Sharif said the existing Pakistan-Kyrgyzstan trade volume was "not a patch on our friendship, our brotherhood, and our very strong relations," expressing his desire for both sides to sign the agreement to increase bilateral trade to $200 million per annum.

A joint statement issued after the talks said the leaders had instructed their governments to prepare and implement a “comprehensive action plan” to gradually improve trading mechanisms and support joint investment and industrial projects.

The two sides identified mining and processing, agriculture, food, textiles, pharmaceuticals, the halal industry and digital technologies as areas for expanded investment and industrial cooperation, including through joint ventures and localized production.

Landlocked Kyrgyzstan is seeking greater access to international markets through Pakistan’s Arabian Sea ports, while Islamabad has been trying to expand trade and transport links with Central Asia and, through it, the wider Eurasian region.

The two countries signed a transit trade agreement aimed at facilitating the movement of goods and improving connectivity between Central and South Asia. They also agreed to simplify transport, customs and administrative procedures under an existing quadrilateral transit arrangement.

The joint statement said both sides would work to make greater use of Pakistani seaports for Kyrgyz trade and develop multimodal transport routes between the two countries.

Energy was another focus of the talks, with the leaders calling for the timely implementation of CASA-1000, a $1.2 billion regional electricity project designed to transmit surplus hydropower from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan.

Under the project, Pakistan is expected to receive around 1,000 megawatts of electricity and Afghanistan 300 megawatts, primarily during the summer months when Central Asian states have surplus hydropower.

The two countries have also established a joint working group to explore cooperation in electricity, hydropower, renewable energy, energy infrastructure and new technologies.

Beyond trade and energy, Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan signed an extradition treaty and an agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, as well as an accord on combating illicit trafficking in narcotics, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals.

Other agreements covered virtual assets, medical education, science and technology, education, climate change, academic and strategic research, postal services and e-commerce and business cooperation. Lahore and the Kyrgyz city of Osh also established a sister-city relationship.

The leaders also said Afghan territory should not be used for activities threatening the security of other countries, linking stability in Afghanistan to efforts to build greater economic and transport connectivity between South and Central Asia.