Pakistan, Italy to pursue joint ventures in trade, economic spheres

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Italy on Thursday agreed to pursue joint ventures in trade and economic spheres by transfer of the technology, ARY News reported.

The accord came at a meeting between Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Secretary General of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Elisabetta Balloniat in the federal capital today.

Both the leaders also reaffirmed the excellent cooperation existing between the two countries at the multilateral fora, including the United Nations, and agreed for its further strengthening.

On the occasion, Mr Qureshi appreciated the longstanding Pakistan-Italy ties and strong institutional mechanisms of cooperation in diverse fields, including the political dialogue process.

He emphasized upon the need to enhance high level exchanges and augment cooperation in the spheres of trade, investment, economic development, culture and tourism.

Qureshi underlined the need for opening channels of legal migration between the two countries.

The Italian Secretary General said her government’s resolve to strengthen bilateral relations in all areas and assured full cooperation on working together with the new government of Pakistan.

The two sides discussed a wide range of regional and bilateral issues of mutual interest and expressed satisfaction at the current state of relations.

Earlier on December 5, Pakistan and Italy had inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for boosting economic and trade associations in various sectors.

Mohammad Younus Dhaga, Federal Secretary for Commerce while addressing as chief guest at the MoU signing ceremony between ICE, Italian Trade Agency & Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) stated that, both countries have mutually decided to enlarge the association in the sectors of infrastructure, construction, energy, logistics, transport, telecoms, water, machinery, equipment for manufacturing marble and stones, textile, clothing, leather, shoes, rubber, metal & various chemical products.

He also added that, Italy and Pakistan had exceptional bilateral political and trade associations based upon the history.

Furthermore, Italy was amongst the top ten trading partners of Pakistan in the world and third largest in terms of trade relations with European Union (EU).