Pakistan-Norway bilateral ties enhanced

Pakistan-Norway bilateral ties enhanced

DAVOS: (APP) Pakistan and Norway Thursday vowed to focus on trade, investment and development cooperation in a bid to further expand their bilateral relations.

This was the outcome of meeting held between Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and her Norwegian counterpart Erna Solberg, here on the sidelines of the 47th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum.

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan greatly valued its relations with Norway and recalled his productive visit to Norway in July 2015, followed by meeting in New York on the sidelines of General Assembly session in September 2015.

He apprised the Norwegian premier of his government's focus on trade and economic cooperation, rather than aid.

He noted that Norway had been a strong partner for investment, trade and development cooperation with Pakistan.

The two leaders called for exploring new avenues of cooperation.

The Norwegian prime minister said her county had already made investments in Pakistan and expressed the desire to harness the trade potential in Pakistan to the fullest.

She appreciated the economic revival of Pakistan besides success in addressing extremism and terrorism.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said there had been regular exchange of high-level visits between the two sides and stressed need to sustain this momentum of regular interaction at high-level.

He extended invitation to the prime minister to visit Pakistan.

Prime Minister Sharif emphasized enhanced contact between the two countries at political and economic levels.

He also appreciated Norway's development cooperation with Pakistan, especially in the health and education sectors.

Pakistan's exports to Norway include bed linens, articles of apparel and clothing, rice, sports goods and hosiery items, while, Pakistan's imports from Norway are limited to polymers of ethylene and vinyl chloride and some natural polymers in primary forms, and other items include electrical equipment and scrap of iron and steel etc.