Uzbekistan announces 10-year tax exemption for Pakistani businessmen 

Islamabad (Web Desk): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday invited Uzbek companies to consider investing in a range of promising sectors in Pakistan, including textiles, pharmaceuticals, mining, agriculture and tourism.

He made these remarks while addressing the Pakistan-Uzbekistan Business Forum in Islamabad together with visiting Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

PM Shehbaz said that he was confident that President Mirziyoyev’s visit would help further solidify bilateral ties and transform them into a partnership marked by a new and higher level of economic cooperation.

Referring to the recently concluded trade protocol valued at two billion dollars, he noted that relations between Pakistan and Uzbekistan would now be judged by practical outcomes such as trade volumes, investment initiatives, industrial collaboration and closer people-to-people contacts.

He added that both sides had agreed to set up a joint working group that would develop a 5-year plan aimed at expanding trade, diversifying investment portfolios and promoting joint ventures in areas such as research and development, information technology and agriculture.

In his address, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev encouraged entrepreneurs from both countries to step forward and fully capitalize on the vast untapped trade potential between Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

He announced that Pakistani businesses would be offered a ten-year tax exemption, along with all possible support to facilitate their operations.

President Mirziyoyev also congratulated PM Shehbaz and the people of Pakistan on what he described as significant economic progress, pointing to declining inflation, single-digit interest rates and a strong economic recovery as factors creating attractive prospects for closer cooperation.

Later, the two leaders observed the exchange of documents related to pre-signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between business representatives from Pakistan and Uzbekistan, reflecting growing momentum in commercial engagement between the two countries.