Pakistan and Uzbekistan signed a transit trade deal on July 15, moving the latter’s entire commerce from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas to Pakistani seaports.
The deal, which would allow all Central Asian countries access to Pakistani seaports, including Gwadar, is expected to generate $90 billion in income for Pakistan.
The Transit Trade Agreement between Uzbekistan and Pakistan will allow Pakistani seaports to access Uzbekistan and offer Pakistani exporters access to all five Central Asian nations. This would assist to strengthen trade and regional linkages, as well as provide opportunities for Pakistan to grow exports to Uzbekistan and tap into a $90 billion Central Asian market.
The Uzbek-Pakistan agreement has been managed to negotiate and finalized, and it encompasses commodities commerce and transit by road and rail, as well as customs procedures, mainly based on the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA), which was a comprehensive and time-tested contract with better mechanisms.
As per a Commerce Division official, the APTTA 2010 gave Pakistan access to Vital Asian commercial activity for transmitting goods and services up to Afghanistan’s border crossing points with Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, but there was no agreement for Pakistan to transport exports beyond those points.
As part of the government’s aim to make Pakistan commerce, transit, and transshipment center, as well as to strengthen regional connections with Central Asia, Uzbekistan was offered the use of Pakistani seaports. This deal would strengthen the two nations’ commercial and cultural relations.
