Uzbekistan and Pakistan Create Strategic Partnership Council

At the talks in Tashkent in late February, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif confirmed their course to expand their strategic partnership. Particular attention was paid to transport connectivity and expansion of transit potential, including the use of the Pakistani port of Karachi. The implementation of these ambitious plans, the key element of which will be the construction of the Trans-Afghan Railway (TRA), will provide a powerful impetus to economic growth not only in Uzbekistan and Pakistan, but also in the entire region.

During the visit, the leaders of the two countries discussed cooperation within the UN, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Non-Aligned Movement, as well as the need to combine efforts in the fight against terrorism, radicalism and Islamophobia. In addition, Mirziyoyev and Sharif signed a Joint Declaration and Protocol on the establishment of a bilateral Strategic Partnership Council at the highest level, aimed, as reported by the press service of the President of Uzbekistan, at “further development and strengthening of Uzbek-Pakistani relations of multifaceted cooperation.” In addition, a decision was made to create a Supreme Council for Strategic Partnership and hold its first meeting next year. A number of documents were adopted at the level of ministries, departments and cities.

It should be noted that recently official Islamabad has become noticeably more active in the international arena, and Pakistan, first of all, is expanding regional cooperation. Thus, on the eve of his visit to Tashkent, Shahbaz Sharif visited Azerbaijan, where he held talks with President Ilham Aliyev and took part in a business forum of entrepreneurs from the two countries. Following his visit to Baku on February 23-25, 2025, a package of investment agreements worth more than $2 billion was agreed upon, which Azerbaijan is ready to invest in the Pakistani economy.

It should be noted here that Pakistan has been cooperating with Uzbekistan for a long time, and the leaders of the two countries meet quite often. It is enough to recall that Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited Pakistan in March 2022. Shahbaz Sharif also came to Tashkent that same year. These two visits opened a new page in the Uzbek-Pakistani strategic partnership. During the current visit, according to the press service of the President of Uzbekistan, Mirziyoyev and Sharif discussed areas for expanding strategic partnership, in particular, in the area of ​​trade and economic cooperation.

True the figures for this cooperation remain quite modest. According to the results of last year, the trade turnover between the countries reached $404.5 million, approaching the goals set by the heads of the two states to bring this figure to $500 million in the near future. At the same time, in accordance with the adopted “road map”, the leaders of the two countries set a goal to increase the volume of mutual trade to $2 billion in the future. At the same time, priority areas will be the expansion of the list of goods within the framework of the Agreement on Preferential Trade, simplification of phytosanitary and customs procedures, integration of electronic trading platforms, access to the procurement system and development of interbank settlements.

It should be emphasized that experts call these plans quite realistic, since exports from Uzbekistan to Pakistan have increased 1.5 times over the past year, reaching $299.5 million. For example, Islamabad has become the fifth largest sales market for Uzbek fruit and vegetable products (124.7 thousand tons worth $192.3 million). In turn, the volume of cargo transportation through the multimodal corridor “Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan” has increased fivefold. In order to stimulate business and cultural contacts between the regions, Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed holding a Forum of Regions of the two countries in Uzbekistan.

It should be noted that today there are already 130 joint ventures with Pakistani capital operating in this Central Asian republic, trading houses have been opened in Tashkent and Karachi, and since November last year, flights between the capital of Uzbekistan and Lahore have been resumed. The volume of road freight transport between the countries has increased almost 6.5 times, reaching 354 thousand tons in 2023, and it is constantly growing. In the regions of the republic, investment projects have been implemented in partnership with large Pakistani companies in the Tashkent, Syrdarya, Namangan regions and the capital Tashkent.

To promote trade relations, regular Made in Uzbekistan and Made in Pakistan exhibitions are organized, which allows expanding the scale of trade, economic and cultural cooperation between the two countries. In addition, the Intergovernmental Commission (IC) is working, and ten of its meetings have already been held, accompanied by a business forum and meetings in the B2B/G2B format. The next IC meeting will be held in July this year in Lahore.

Tashkent and Islamabad are focusing on the TZD project, which will connect Central and South Asia, thereby providing Uzbekistan with access to Pakistani ports. The construction of the Termez-Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar route, 760 km long, is estimated at $4.8 billion. The implementation of this project is expected to take at least 5 years, as a result of which the delivery time of goods from Uzbekistan to Pakistan will be reduced from 35 to 3-5 days. It is important to note that Russia is also interested in the implementation and subsequent operation of this road, which, due to Western sanctions, has turned its closest attention to the East and South in recent years. Incidentally, the TZD project was previously discussed by Russian leader Vladimir Putin with his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Without a doubt, the TJD route is important for many countries. But despite certain progress in this direction, its implementation is still associated with major political risks, primarily related to the domestic political situation in Afghanistan. Especially given the fact that in recent months, the split between moderate and more radical factions has deepened within the Afghan leadership.

It should be noted that cooperation between Uzbekistan and Pakistan is successfully developing not only in business, but also in other areas. For example, on April 5, 2025, the Speaker of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan Nuriddin Ismailov met in Tashkent with a delegation led by the Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan Yousuf Raza Gilani. During the dialogue, it was especially noted that in recent years, as a result of an open, constructive and pragmatic foreign policy, conducted on the initiative of the heads of the two states. Relations between Uzbekistan and Pakistan have reached a qualitatively new level of strategic partnership, and cooperation between the two countries is consistently developing not only within the framework of bilateral, but also international and regional organizations.

It is noteworthy that the speakers of the parliaments of the two states, Ismailov and Gilani, also took part in the 150th anniversary assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which was held in the Uzbek capital on April 5-9 this year. Incidentally, Russia was represented at this important event by the Chairperson of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko. According to observers, this forum served to strengthen cooperation between national parliaments and opened a new page in the cooperation of parliaments around the world, including Uzbekistan and Pakistan.

In short cooperation between Tashkent and Islamabad is developing in all directions, which, one must assume, meets the interests of not only both countries, but also the entire region. Let us not forget that Uzbekistan and Pakistan are members of the SCO, which means that good relations between these countries will also be in the interests of other members of this influential international association.

Sergey Saenko, International Observer

A source