Talks in Islamabad point to a pragmatic play: Uzbekistan wants market access and know-how; Pakistan’s Gohar Textile wants capacity, assets and a new production base.
Uzbekistan is trying to move up the value chain—from shipping fibre to shipping finished goods. That requires customers, compliance systems and predictable routes to market. Pakistan’s exporters have all three.
The dealmaking
During President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s visit to Islamabad, he met Gohar Mustafa, founder of Pakistan’s Gohar Textile, to discuss integrating Uzbek enterprises into international supply chains and organising joint textile production in Uzbekistan.
Officials also pointed to groundwork laid earlier: in July 2024, Uzbek counterparts and Gohar Textile representatives discussed launching a joint production line, acquiring inefficient/underperforming factories, and widening bilateral textile trade.
Why it matters
Gohar Textile is a vertically integrated home-textiles maker—curtains, bedding and jacquards—running six factories in Faisalabad with more than 3,000 staff and an additional facility in Manchester, giving it the scale and market proximity Uzbekistan is chasing.
What happens next
Expect the hard work to revolve around asset selection (which “underperforming” plants are worth fixing), governance of a JV, and the commercial logic of routing Uzbek output through Gohar’s existing customer and distribution network.
