Pakistan and Uzbekistan will explore joint opportunities in the textile sector. The trade volume between the two countries was $3.92 million in 2015-16, which increased from $2.98 million in 2014-15. Pakistan’s exports to Uzbekistan have witnessed a marginal increase, from $1.347 million in 2014-15 to $2.07 million in 2015-16, while imports from Uzbekistan have slightly increased from $1.56 million to $1.843 million during the same period.

However, bilateral trade between Pakistan and Uzbekistan is not reflective of the true potential. There are issues that hamper expansion of bilateral trade like lack of direct cargo links, safe and direct land routes, marketing strategies, knowledge of Pakistani products, visa facilitation and costly transportation by air.

Uzbekistan is a country of about 32 million people. Its major export commodities include cotton, textiles, energy products, gold, minerals, fertilisers, ferrous and nonferrous metals, foodstuffs, machinery, and automobiles. Major import commodities include machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals, ferrous and nonferrous metals.

Uzbekistan is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of cotton. Traditional Uzbek textiles are taking the fashion world by storm. One of these is a fabric embroidered with silk threads, called suzani, and another is called ikat, which is woven with hand-spun silk yarn.