{"id":87074,"date":"2026-08-31T20:50:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T20:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/?p=87074"},"modified":"2026-09-01T21:02:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T21:02:05","slug":"pm-shehbaz-uzbek-president-reaffirm-commitment-to-deepen-strategic-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/2026\/08\/31\/pm-shehbaz-uzbek-president-reaffirm-commitment-to-deepen-strategic-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"PM Shehbaz, Uzbek President reaffirm commitment to deepen strategic partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"<h6 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Pakistan, Uzbekistan target $2 billion bilateral trade by 2029; leaders stress trade, connectivity and economic cooperation<\/em><\/h6>\n<p><strong>BISHKEK<\/strong><strong>:<\/strong> Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif met President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the SCO Council of Heads of State Meeting in Bishkek and reaffirmed Pakistan\u2019s commitment to further strengthening the bilateral Strategic Partnership.<\/p>\n<p>The Prime Minister conveyed warm felicitations to President Mirziyoyev and the brotherly people of Uzbekistan on the 35th anniversary of Uzbekistan\u2019s independence, recalling the Uzbek President\u2019s State Visit to Pakistan in February 2026 and the inaugural meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council, which had given fresh momentum to bilateral ties.<\/p>\n<p>Prime Minister Shehbaz stressed the need for timely implementation of leadership-level decisions, particularly in trade, investment, connectivity and economic cooperation.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-87076\" src=\"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HRD_c0Tb0AAVcqN.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"584\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HRD_c0Tb0AAVcqN.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HRD_c0Tb0AAVcqN-300x137.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HRD_c0Tb0AAVcqN-1024x467.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HRD_c0Tb0AAVcqN-768x350.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HRD_c0Tb0AAVcqN-921x420.jpg 921w, https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HRD_c0Tb0AAVcqN-150x68.jpg 150w, https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HRD_c0Tb0AAVcqN-696x318.jpg 696w, https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/HRD_c0Tb0AAVcqN-1068x487.jpg 1068w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>He reiterated the shared objective of increasing bilateral trade to US$2 billion by 2029, calling for effective implementation of the expanded Preferential Trade Agreement, enhanced business-to-business engagement and mutually beneficial joint ventures.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Highlighting regional connectivity as a strategic priority, the Prime Minister underscored the transformative potential of the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan Railway for linking Central and South Asia and providing Uzbekistan access to Pakistan\u2019s seaports.<\/p>\n<p>He called for early progress on the Joint Feasibility Study, greater use of existing multimodal transport corridors and assured that Pakistan would facilitate Uzbek trade through its ports and transport infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>The two leaders also discussed expanding cooperation in industry, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, textiles, mining, digital technologies, education, culture, defence and security. Prime Minister Shehbaz supported enhanced air connectivity, including progress towards direct Tashkent-Karachi flights.<\/p>\n<p>The Prime Minister appreciated Uzbekistan\u2019s support for Pakistan\u2019s forthcoming Chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of State and expressed the desire to work closely with Uzbekistan on regional security, connectivity, trade and sustainable development. He also reaffirmed continued cooperation through the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) and other multilateral forums.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PM Shehbaz, Uzbek President reaffirm commitment to deepen strategic partnership\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6hqdddFvHEg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Prime Minister Shehbaz reaffirmed Pakistan\u2019s resolve to translate the excellent political relationship with Uzbekistan into tangible economic and developmental benefits for the peoples of both countries.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan, Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan and Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ataullah Tarar were also present during the meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pakistan, Uzbekistan target $2 billion bilateral trade by 2029; leaders stress trade, connectivity and economic cooperation BISHKEK: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif met President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the SCO Council of Heads of State Meeting in Bishkek and reaffirmed Pakistan\u2019s commitment to further strengthening the bilateral Strategic Partnership. The Prime [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":87075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-asia","category-diplomacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87077,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87074\/revisions\/87077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}