ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the United States have agreed to boost trade relations, the Pakistani envoy to Washington said on Saturday, as Islamabad seeks to recalibrate bilateral ties from geopolitics to geoeconomics.
Over the past few months, numerous high-level officials in Pakistan’s government, including National Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf, have pushed for a shift in US-Pakistan relations away from geopolitics and geostrategy towards geoeconomics.
Pakistani prime minister's commerce and investment adviser, Abdul Razak Dawood, on Friday discussed the promotion of trade and investment between the two countries with the US commerce secretary, Gina M. Raimondo.
"Both agreed to work together to deepen Pakistan United States business and investment relationship," Ambassador Asad Khan said in a tweet.
During a phone call with Raimondo, Dawood highlighted trade and investment opportunities for US enterprises in Pakistan, especially in the textile, agriculture, IT, engineering, and pharmaceutical industries, the commerce ministry said in a statement on Friday.
"Both sides underscored the importance of enhancing collaboration to remove the trade barriers and subsequently smoothen trade between the two countries," the ministry said, adding that Raimondo showed interest in investment opportunities in Pakistan's digital economy.
In July, Dawood said Pakistan's exports to the US in the fiscal year 2021 by 39 percent, for the first time crossing $5 billion.
"Our exports to the US during FY 2021increased by 39% to $ 5.2 billion as compared to $ 3.7 billion during FY 2020, an increase of around $1.45 billion," he said in a tweet. "This is the first time in our history that our exports to the US have crossed the $5 billion mark."