Kazakh minister reiterates commitment to foster economic ties with Pakistan

LAHORE: Kazakhstan Vice Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development MaratKarabayev has expressed the hope that the historical relations between Kazakhstan and Pakistan will now reflect in the expansion of bilateral trade and commercial ties with enhanced frequent interaction between the business communities of the two countries.

Addressing a zoom meeting with All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) chairman Abdul Rahim Nasir, he reiterated the commitment of fostering trade and economic relations, saying that there was tremendous scope for uplifting of economic cooperation between both countries.

MaratKarabayev explained in detail the incentives and benefits being extended by the government of Kazakhstan to foreign investors and the exemption from taxes for setting up of industries in the Special Economic Zones.

The Kazakh minister said the cheap recycled textile fibres and inexpensive electricity at 3 cents/kW offer bonanza to the foreign investors.

He also discussed the need for greater people-to-people contact and potential for economic cooperation. Various ways and means to strengthen the centuries old relations between the two nations by exploring all available avenues also came under discussion.

The Kazakh minister said the whole region is ready to benefit from peace and stability in Afghanistan and stressed the need to multiply the current bilateral trade volume of $45 million with Pakistan by all means.

He invited a business delegation from Pakistan to Kazakhstan and offered to send a similar business delegation to Pakistan for adopting practical measures for expanding economic and trade ties.

Abdul Rahim Nasir highlighted the strengths and potential of textile industry of Pakistan and said that the textile sector is on an upward trajectory with lofty export targets of $21 billion for the current year as against the actual export of $15 billion during the last year.

He also highlighted the new investment of $5 billion in the textile sector, addition of 100 new plants and creation of 500,000 jobs.

Nasir pointed out towards the issues such as logistics, obtaining and using letters of credit (LCs) in trade with Kazakhstan, language barriers in labeling the goods in Kazakh or Russian languages, difficulties in land route due to security situation in Afghanistan and delay in signing of preferential trade agreement, which are adversely affecting the bilateral trade.

With a view to foster economic relations between Pakistan and Kazakhstan, the Aptma chairman proposed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Kazakhstan government and Aptma, which would positively contribute to pave the way for consolidation of economic ties.

Similarly, he said, frequent exchange of trade delegations, mutual capacity-building in textile sectors, establishment of joint ventures, early signing of FTA, strengthening of banking channels and utilisation of OIC, ECO and Shanghai Trade Cooperation platforms will help improve the trade statistics.

He stressed the need to strengthen banking channels between the two countries, an early signing of PTA, utilisation of OIC, ECO and SCO platforms for expansion of bilateral trade, joint investment in the textile industry and establishment of joint ventures, frequent exchange of trade delegations, synergies in bilateral trade expansion, mutual capacity-building in textile sectors, and bilateral exchange of business delegations to identify trade and investment options as a way forward to solidify trade and investment relations between the two countries.

He expressed the hope that the business community of both countries would benefit from TIR to cut cargo costs substantially.

Aptma Northern Zone chairman Hamid Zaman appreciated the Kazakhstan government for offering various options for boosting bilateral trade and investment and expressed the hope that frequent exchange of business delegations would definitely result in upsurging bilateral trade.

Aptma senior vice chairman Kamran Arshad, secretary general Mohammad Raza Baqir and leading members from the Southern and Northern zones attended the first-ever zoom meeting between Aptma and the government of Kazakhstan.