With bilateral trade between Uzbekistan and Pakistan rising sharply, Uzbekistan’s ambassador to its southern near-neighbor, Oybek Usmanov, believes that Pakistan’s Punjab province alone could potentially hold $1 billion in trade value with Uzbekistan.
Usmanov has commented that the two countries can each grow their exports of garments and textiles, chemicals and agricultural machinery. To this end, Uzbekistan has invited the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry to participate in the Tashkent International Investment Forum on May 2 — as well as in exhibitions of agricultural equipment to be held in the Uzbek capital in June.
Transportation companies from both countries have played a key role in Uzbek-Pakistani relations. The Trans-Afghan railway line is currently being designed, to pass through Afghanistan between the Uzbek town of Termez and Peshawar in Pakistan.
The idea to build a railway line through Afghanistan was conceived in 2018. At that time, the cost of the project — which could potentially carry 20 million tons of cargo per year — was estimated at $5 billion. In July 2022 Uzbekistan estimated the cost of the project at $4.6 billion, with a construction period of five years. In December 2022 Pakistan announced a figure of $8.2 billion. A year later, the cost of the railroad was adjusted downward to $7 billion.
