Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan Ruslan Kazakbaev has invited Pakistani entrepreneurs to invest in the tourism and energy sectors of Kyrgyzstan.

He was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Lahore on Friday.

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LCCI senior vice president Mian Rehman Aziz Chan presented a welcome address while Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan Ulanbek Totuiaev and LCCI vice president Haris Ateeq also spoke on the occasion.

The visiting minister said that Kyrgyzstan is known for its tourism sector and its 90% area is mountainous, adding that Pakistanis should come forward and invest in hotels and resorts in Kyrgyzstan.

He said that the energy sector of Kyrgyzstan also has a lot of potential and Pakistani investors can also invest in small hydel power projects.

He further said that his country desired to use Pakistan’s seaports for transit trade. With meetings with President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan were very positive, he observed and hoped that these meetings would further strengthen the relations between the two countries.

Mian Rehman Aziz Chan said that all the Muslim countries need to collaborate with each other and contribute every possible effort to preserve and promote Islamic values of peace, compassion, tolerance, equality, justice and human dignity.

Talking about Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan’s mutual relations, he said that both countries have deep cultural, religious and diplomatic relations.

In contrast to all these strong bonds and mutual relations, both countries have yet to become sound trading partners.

He said that very few items are being traded between Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan for the last many years. According to State Bank of Pakistan’s statistics, Pakistan’s exports to Kyrgyzstan were just 2 million dollars in ‪2020-21 while there were almost no imports.

The main reasons of such a low level of trade volume include limited knowledge about each other’s markets and absence of sound banking channels.

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He said that Kyrgyzstan should make good use of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) for attaining better connectivity to deeply explore each other markets.

Haris Ateeq said that promoting mutual trade and economic relations could prove a milestone in regional and global trade integration and connectivity.

The geo-strategic position of both countries is unique and very important, which could play a significant role in promoting trade connectivity amongst other republics of central Asia.