Pakistan, US agree to enhance economic, trade cooperation

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the United States (US) on Tuesday agreed to work closely on various bilateral trade and investment matters with the objective of enhancing the economic cooperation between both sides.

Dr Gohar Ejaz, Minister for Commerce and Industries, and Ambassador Katherine Tai, US Trade Representative held a virtual meeting and reviewed the progress made after holding of 9th Pakistan-United States Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Council meeting earlier in the year.

Ambassador Tai highlighted the importance of Pakistan as an important trading partner of the US and acknowledged that the continuous engagement between both countries is always encouraging.

The minister informed Ambassador Tai about the efforts undertaken by the government to improve the business climate. Minister suggested to consider duty-free access of textile and garments export to the USA as Pakistan imports major chunk of cotton from the USA.

Furthermore, Gohar Ejaz also suggested that to add value to the bilateral trade, joint ventures in textile and industrial manufacturing should be explored.

The caretaker minister also stressed that the USA is the top destination for IT and ITeS exports from Pakistan and both countries can benefit from the potential of IT.