DUSHANBE, May 31, 2011, Asia-Plus -- A Tajik-Pakistani business forum has opened at the Kokhi Vahdat State Complex in Dushanbe today.

A large delegation of Pakistani entrepreneurs, numbering some 100 people, arrived in Dushanbe yesterday.

The industrial and services sectors represented in the delegation include: textiles, rice, pharmaceuticals, engineering, financial sector, food and agriculture, information technology, minerals, construction, travel and tourism, leather and so forth.  Areas of interest in the Tajik economy for Pakistani investors include cotton, aluminum and hydropower sectors in which joint venture opportunities will be explored.

According to the Tajik MFA information department, Pakistani entrepreneurs’ visit to Tajikistan will last until June 3 and the purpose of the visit is for Pakistan businesspeople to get acquainted with capacity of Tajikistan’s economy and study the possible priorities of cooperation.

Tajik officials and businesspeople hope that the visit of Pakistan businessmen will give a new impulse to further expansion of trade relations between the two countries.

According to data of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT), a two-way trade between Tajikistan and India in 2010 valued at more than US$21.5 million.  This consisted of Tajikistan’s exports to Pakistan estimated at US$15.5 million and Tajikistan’s imports from Pakistan worth more than US$6 million.