Pakistan-Uzbekistan Relationship
PAKISTAN-UZBEKISTAN RELATION SHIP
1. INTRODUCTION
Pakistan–Uzbekistan relations are the foreign relations between Pakistan and Uzbekistan. Relations between the two states were established when the republic of Uzbekistan became independent following the collapse of the USSR, the relations between the two countries were initially strained by the situation in Afghanistan which both countries border as they supported different factions Afghan factions.
However relations improved after the fall of the Taliban, both countries seeking to improve relations for the sake of trade, Pakistan wishing to gain access to Central Asian markets and landlocked Uzbekistan to access ports on the Indian Ocean. Despite this the two brotherly countries have some culture in common especially because of deep Turkic and Persian influences in the two countries. Uzbeks have historically, travelled to the region of Pakistan as technocrats, bureaucrats, soldiers, traders, scientists, architects, teachers, theologians and Sufis during the Islamic Sultanates and Mughal Empire and settled permanently. There are many shrines doted throughout Pakistan in honour of noted Uzbek noblemen. Many Pakistanis claim Uzbek ancestry. 2. HISTORY
Although initially apprehensive about the spread of an Iranian-style Islamic fundamentalist movement in Central Asia, Uzbekistan also has found mutual economic interests with Pakistan, and the two have pursued overland links and other joint ventures. There has been a particular commercial interest in hydroelectric power, gas pipelines, and other projects. And a meeting of the heads of state of Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey in Turkmenistan in early 1995 underscored the continuing interest of those countries in the Central Asian region as a whole. 3. Importance
Pakistan and Uzbekistan has made encouraging progress in realizing the goal of establishing functional transport corridors and institutionalizing business linkages. Both the countries need to take
1. INTRODUCTION
Pakistan–Uzbekistan relations are the foreign relations between Pakistan and Uzbekistan. Relations between the two states were established when the republic of Uzbekistan became independent following the collapse of the USSR, the relations between the two countries were initially strained by the situation in Afghanistan which both countries border as they supported different factions Afghan factions.
However relations improved after the fall of the Taliban, both countries seeking to improve relations for the sake of trade, Pakistan wishing to gain access to Central Asian markets and landlocked Uzbekistan to access ports on the Indian Ocean. Despite this the two brotherly countries have some culture in common especially because of deep Turkic and Persian influences in the two countries. Uzbeks have historically, travelled to the region of Pakistan as technocrats, bureaucrats, soldiers, traders, scientists, architects, teachers, theologians and Sufis during the Islamic Sultanates and Mughal Empire and settled permanently. There are many shrines doted throughout Pakistan in honour of noted Uzbek noblemen. Many Pakistanis claim Uzbek ancestry. 2. HISTORY
Although initially apprehensive about the spread of an Iranian-style Islamic fundamentalist movement in Central Asia, Uzbekistan also has found mutual economic interests with Pakistan, and the two have pursued overland links and other joint ventures. There has been a particular commercial interest in hydroelectric power, gas pipelines, and other projects. And a meeting of the heads of state of Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey in Turkmenistan in early 1995 underscored the continuing interest of those countries in the Central Asian region as a whole. 3. Importance
Pakistan and Uzbekistan has made encouraging progress in realizing the goal of establishing functional transport corridors and institutionalizing business linkages. Both the countries need to take