As per the sources, on 15th of July, Pakistan & Uzbekistan are going to sign on an agreement of trade and transit, which will change the whole trade of the latter from Iranian Port Bandar Abbas to Pakistan seaports.
PM Imran Khan will attend a Pakistan-Uzbekistan “Silk Route Reconnect” Business Forum in this matter on July 15-16, 2021, in which Pakistan & Uzbekistan will sign Agreement between Uzbekistan & Pakistan on Transit Trade (AUPTT).
Abdul Razak Dawood-Adviser to PM on Commerce & Investment also attended the 6th session of Pakistan-Uzbekistan Joint Ministerial Commission, which was held on 14th of July 2021, and the Pakistan-Uzbekistan “Silk Route Reconnect” Business Forum on July 15-16.
The authority of the commerce ministry stated Uzbekistan is presently highly dependent on the Iranian seaport of Bandar Abbas, through Turkmenistan but they also had a trade agreement with Afghanistan meanwhile Pakistan also had Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA).
The Uzbekistan and Pakistan contract has been conveyed a& finalized, that covers the transit and trade of products through road and rail with customs procedures, mainly following the APTTA pattern.
The AUPTT would give access to Pakistani seaports to Uzbekistan and offer the admittance to every one of the five Central Asian States for Pakistani exports. This would help in improving exchange & local network & open entryways for expanding Pakistan’s exports to Uzbekistan, while bridling the capability of a $90 billion market in Central Asia.
In order to make Pakistan trade, transit & trans-shipment center, as well as to make better relations with central Asia, Govt of Pakistan offered Uzbekistan to use its seaports for trade. They decided it during the meeting at the visit of deputy prime minister to Islamabad in September 2020.
After the approval of PM, the ministry of commerce arranged 16 technical negotiation sessions with the Uzbek side from April-June 2021. This session was attended by The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Communication, Ministry of Law & Justice, Federal Board of Revenue, Department of Plant and Protection (Ministry of National Food Security and Research), Attorney General Office, Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Ministry of Railways.
As from the agreement highlights, trade transit between the two countries will occur with pre-defined paths and routes, using specific ports.
Both the countries were compelled to guarantee that the infrastructure & employees were made available at the border crossing points & would deliver distinct places for off-dock stations & warehousing, at entry/exit points & other customs alerted places, mutually.
Uzbek trucks would transmit products through Pakistan to seaports instead of getting to re-load them onto Pakistani trucks at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border & vice versa.
The Uzbekistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Coordination Committee (UPTTCC), which will be established in the AUPTT, would be held accountable for surveillance & facilitating the implementation of the agreement.
