Agreement inked: Kyrgyzstan to help Pakistan control power shortfall

April 30th, 2008 Sana · No Comments

ISLAMABAD: Kyrgystan is keen to help Pakistan in power shortfall as country has surplus electricity of one billion kilo watt, Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan, Dr Nurlan Aitmurzaev said on Tuesday.

Kyrgystan has inked an agreement to export it to Central Asian and South Asian Region of Electricity Market (CASAREM) including four countries, Tajikistan, Kyrgystan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He said electricity would be exported to these countries with the financial assistance of World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

It will establish a secretariat in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan is building two new Hydel energy plants and invites Pakistani businessmen to invest in these projects.

He expressed these views during a meeting with president, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Mohammad Ijaz Abbasi.

He said Pakistan is a very important country for Kyrgyzstan and was the most suitable route of trade. He said Kyrgyzstan prefers brotherly countries for investment and invited Pakistani companies to invest in Kyrgyzstan.

Dr Nurlan promised to give a briefing on trade potentials and investment opportunities of Kyrgyzstan at the ICCI to the business community. He further said the two countries should cooperate with each other to improve trade and economic relations.

He said Pakistani businessmen were participating in Kyrgyzstan’s business activities and invited the ICCI to bring a group of businessmen for visit to Kyrgyzstan and seek possibilities for trade and investment.

Speaking on the occasion President ICCI Muhammad Ijaz Abbasi said, “Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan have to work for strengthening trade and economic relations.”

Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan visited ICCI along with Almazbek Idiriov, Third Secretary and said that total trade of Kyrgyzstan with Pakistan was extremely low and needs to be enhanced aggressively. He said that Kyrgyzstan was a growing economy and its major export was electricity, electrical products, semi-conductors and etc.

Abbasi said the trade volume between Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan is very low and suggested for its enhancement through joint ventures in various fields.

He said that Pakistan was short of energy and could benefit from Kyrgyzstan to meet Pakistan’s energy requirements. He said both countries could also cooperate in information technology, agriculture, textile and tourism sectors to explore more opportunities for investment.

The ICCI chief said there exists good scope for exports of ready-made garments, cotton products, engineering goods, consumer goods, pharmaceutical, rice, textile fabrics, sports good, surgical instruments and tents from Pakistan and import of electricity, electrical products from Kyrgyzstan.