Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that Pakistan can provide Central Asia with access to its ports for trade.

Addressing the Pakistan-Kazakhstan Joint Business Forum in Islamabad, the prime minister has termed the current trade volume of $250 million between Pakistan and Kazakhstan as below potential. He said that full efforts would be made to achieve new targets. “Today, we agreed to raise bilateral trade to $1 billion. Kazakhstan can export its products through the Gwadar and Karachi ports,” he added.

The visiting president has termed his trip as a major turning point in bilateral cooperation. He said the shift towards strategic partnership in bilateral relations was an important milestone, adding that over 30 trade agreements were signed at the business forum, worth $200 million. He expressed hope that in the coming years Pakistan and Kazakhstan would be discussing trade worth billions of dollars.

Pakistan, Kazakhstan announce strategic partnership

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Earlier, during a meeting between Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, both sides agreed to enhance political, economic, defence and people-to-people ties. The establishment of a Pakistan-Kazakhstan Strategic Partnership was also announced.

Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar attended the meeting. This is the first official visit to Pakistan by a Kazakh president in 23 years. The meeting welcomed the organisation of the Pakistan-Kazakhstan Business Forum and emphasised the importance of strengthening private-sector ties. Both sides agreed on regional coordination, transport, and transit trade cooperation.

A working committee was formed to prepare a five-year bilateral trade roadmap. The prime minister has termed the Kazakh president’s visit as a historic milestone in bilateral relations. It was agreed to increase cooperation in education, culture, tourism and energy. After the meeting, 37 memoranda of understanding and agreements were signed.

Signing of MoUs and agreements

At the signing ceremony, the prime minister and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed memoranda of understanding and agreements covering various areas of cooperation between Pakistan and Kazakhstan.

In his speech, PM Shehbaz said he welcomed President Tokayev and his delegation, adding that the visit was crucial to giving bilateral relations a new dimension. He said that this was the first visit to Pakistan by the Kazakh president in 23 years and that discussions had been constructive and positive.

The prime minister said Pakistan and Kazakhstan would achieve economic and trade cooperation goals through joint efforts. He added that they were committed to implementing the memoranda and agreements, and that the target was to raise bilateral trade to $1 billion.