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Tengrinews.kz - Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan, to participate in the meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
In Islamabad, Bektenov met with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The two leaders discussed expanding trade and economic cooperation, as well as collaboration in digitalization.
Bektenov emphasized that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev places special importance on the potential for economic cooperation between Kazakhstan and Pakistan. In the first eight months of 2024, bilateral trade increased by 16%, reaching around $40 million. To unlock further potential, both sides aim to continue diversifying trade.
Kazakhstan is prepared to increase its exports to Pakistan across 85 product categories, valued at over $490 million. This includes expanding the range of products from industries such as petrochemicals, metallurgy, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food, and mechanical engineering.
The two leaders also focused on agricultural cooperation, with Kazakhstan's agricultural exports to Pakistan nearly doubling to $7.7 million over the past eight months. Vegetables and grains from Kazakhstan are in high demand in Pakistan. With this year’s expected large harvest, Kazakhstan is ready to increase its annual grain exports to Pakistan to 2 million tons.
In the transit and transport sector, with a threefold increase in rail freight and a fourfold increase in road transit, the two prime ministers discussed further developing the "Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan" multimodal route and the new "Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan" transport corridor.
The countries will continue expanding cooperation across all areas of trade, economic, and cultural relations.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Astana in July to participate in the SCO summit.
Read also: Pakistan introduces free visas for tourists from Kazakhstan
