High Commission of South Africa will facilitate Pakistani business community to have direct links with their counterparts in South Africa to give quantum jump to the bilateral trade between the two countries, said Mpendulo Jele High Commissioner of South Africa.
Addressing the members of Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI), he said that the bilateral trade could be increased by ensuring direct links between the business communities of the two countries. He said that Faisalabad is one of the most vibrant business centres of Pakistan and can play an important role in enhancing trade between the two countries.
He said that South Africa is basically a safe haven for foreign investors as its government offers attractive investment incentives. He said that political situation in the country is stable and their constitution has been described as one of the most liberal. He said that a number of Pakistani companies have already invested successfully in various parts of South Africa and they are in the process of discussing several new investment opportunities with companies based in different parts of Pakistan.
He said that South Africa is rich in minerals and other natural resources and many investors have already set up their manufacturing plants in South Africa. He said that South Africa is also regarded as a gateway to Africa and, especially the southern Africa region. He said that African continent is the second fastest growing region after Asia and Pakistani investors should avail from the opportunities available in this part of the world.
Earlier, President FCCI Engineer Rizwan Ashraf said that South Africa and Pakistan enjoy good cordial diplomatic and economic relations. Both the countries share similarities as to Members of Commonwealth and former British colonies. He said that keeping the economy size of both the countries, there is great potential for enhancing the volume of bilateral trade and strengthening the economic relations between Pakistan and South Africa.
Currently, both the countries have bilateral trade volume of US $679 million in the Year 2014, he added. Pakistan's exports to South Africa were US $279.78 million while South Africa's exports to Pakistan were US $399.54 million with balance of trade in favour of South Africa. Analyzing the bilateral trade, he said that it is observed that growth of South Africa exports to Pakistan has been 11 percent per annum during the period from 2010-14 while Pakistan's exports to South Africa are growing @7 percent per annum in the same period. The point of worry is that Pakistan has very negligible share of 0.3 percent in South Africa's imports of US $99.89 billion from the world in 2014. By improving the trade mechanism between both the countries, a trade volume of $1 billion per annum can be easily achieved, he hoped.
He said that there are vast prospects of expansion of bilateral trade including joint ventures in textiles, agro-based industry, livestock industry, leather goods, oil and gas, information technology and tourism. He proposed exchange of business delegations, single country exhibition and Chamber to Chamber business links to enhance bilateral trade volume between the two countries.
During question-answer session Ms Qirat-ul-Ain and Chaudhary Muhammad Asghar raised interesting questions which were well-responded by Basson Deputy High Commissioner of the South Africa. Later President Engineer Rizwan Ashraf and senior vice president Nadeem Allahwala presented FCCI shield to Mpendulo Jele High Commissioner of South Africa while Inaam Afzal vice president thanked the guests and participants of the meeting for attending this meeting.
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