Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan have agreed to raise bilateral trade to $200 million within two years, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif concluded a three-day visit to Kyrgyzstan.
Sharif and President Sadyr Zhaparov met in Bishkek on Wednesday, the final day of the visit, and agreed on a comprehensive action plan to increase trade, improve trading mechanisms, promote joint investment and expand direct business links. The also signed deals covering health, education and technology. Sharif said current trade of around $16 million was far below the strength of relations between the two countries.
The target represents a major increase from existing commerce. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, citing FBR data, puts bilateral goods trade at $5.18 million in the 2024 to 25 financial year, including $4.85 million in Pakistani exports and $330,000 in imports from Kyrgyzstan.
Trade had stood at about $11.2 million in 2022-23. In 2023-24, Pakistan exported $9.56 million to Kyrgyzstan while imports were $357,000.
Pakistan’s exports have included pharmaceuticals, rice, citrus, textiles and garments, sports goods, surgical instruments, machinery, plastics and leather products.
The two countries are linking the trade target to improved connectivity. They signed a bilateral transit trade agreement and agreed to improve the existing Quadrilateral Agreement on Traffic in Transit by simplifying transport, customs and administrative procedures.
Kyrgyzstan, a landlocked Central Asian country, also wants greater use of Pakistani seaports and the development of multimodal transport routes.
The two sides identified mining and mineral processing, agriculture, food, textiles, pharmaceuticals, the halal industry and digital technologies for greater investment and industrial cooperation, including joint ventures and local production.
Seventeen bilateral documents were signed during the visit, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. They included agreements on transit trade and science and technology, an extradition treaty, and memorandums covering medical education, education, climate change, academic research, virtual assets, postal services and e-commerce.
Pakistan’s chambers of commerce and their Kyrgyz counterpart also signed an agreement to strengthen business ties, while Lahore and Osh established a sister-city relationship.
Energy cooperation also featured prominently, with both sides reaffirming the importance of CASA 1000, the regional project designed to transmit surplus hydropower from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan.
Pakistan recognised Kyrgyzstan on the day it declared independence on December 20, 1991, and formal diplomatic relations were established on May 10, 1992. Pakistan opened its embassy in Bishkek in 1995.
Political engagement has intensified recently. President Zhaparov visited Pakistan in December 2025, followed by President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to Kyrgyzstan in July 2026. Sharif’s visit was the latest in that sequence of high-level engagement.
The $200 million target now places the focus on whether new transit routes, investment projects and business links can turn political momentum into actual trade, while giving Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan a potential commercial bridge between Central Asia and the Arabian Sea.
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