'Diplomats can pave way for foreign investments'

Pakistan needs to exploit all the avenues to boost its exports and the role of diplomats has always been of prime importance. "The diplomats can pave way for foreign investments by portraying the economic potentials of any country to the outside world."
LCCI president Shahid Hassan Sheikh said this while addressing a 36-member delegation of foreign trainee diplomats here at Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday. LCCI senior Vice President Yaqoob Tahir Izhar and Vice President Mubasher Sheikh also spoke on the occasion. Trainee diplomats from Botswana, Congo, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Niger, South Africa, Malaysia, Brunei, Maldives, Yemen, Iraq, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan asked a number of questions ranging Pakistan's economy to Chambers relations.
Shahid Hassan Sheikh said that there was a dire need to identify tradable items that leave a lot of room for product/market diversification. The basics for such exercises stem in the exchange of information between the diplomatic missions and the Chambers. He said that Pakistani products such as textiles, rice, leather, sports goods, carpets, fruits & vegetables - the best of the best, are available in abundance. The Afro-Asian countries should consider Pakistani products, their quality and prices before placing demand for the import of these products with other countries. The LCCI president was of the view that Africa remains an unexplored territory from Pakistan's standpoint as 3.88 percent of Pakistan's international trade is taking place with that continent. Tea remains to be the major item of Pakistan's imports from Africa besides copper, leather, chemicals and aluminium.
Likewise cotton and textile products, pharmaceuticals, surgical instruments and sports goods are the major items of export from Pakistan to Africa. He said that Pakistan has a little trade with Central Asian Republics. It was only $48.1 million in 2005. There is a need to forge unity and make ECO an effective organisation like European Union and ASEAN. ECO countries are well placed in terms of their economic potential and can become a major hub of trade and energy. On its own part, Pakistan is actively engaged in the construction of Gwadar Deep Seaport and in the provision of necessary infrastructure to provide a trade and energy corridor between Central Asian countries and China.
This would provide the shortest route to the Central Asian States to trade with SAARC, Africa and other regional countries of Middle East and Far East. The LCCI senior vice president Yaqoob Tahir Izhar while briefing the visiting diplomats said that the primary objective of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry was to protect and promote the interests of business community and it acts as a bridge between the government and the business community. He said the Lahore Chamber is acting as an effective voice of the business community in policy corridors and also issues certificates of origin, visa recommendation letters and these services help the business community save much of their valuable time.