Consul General of Switzerland, Martin Bienz has said that Pakistan is among the top ten partners of Switzerland in terms of foreign direct investments.
Addressing the members of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), he said that a number of multinational companies from Switzerland are successfully operating in Pakistan in fields like food processing, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, power generation, as well as in banking and other service industries.
Bienz said that formation of the Swiss Business Council (SBC) in Karachi marks an important step in the framework of growing economic relations between the two countries.
He said that renowned Swiss multinational companies operating in Pakistan have initiated this new private sector body. The SBC will become an important networking and business platform for all stakeholders, Bienz said and added that through its alliance with the Swiss-Asian Chamber of Commerce in Zurich, it will build new bridges between the business sectors of the two countries. He said that the Swiss-Asian Chamber of Commerce in Zurich has also announced the establishment of a Pakistan chapter with Dr Peter Zuelling as its chairman.
He said that the timing for the launch of SBC is well chosen since bilateral economic trends in combination with the existing market potential are encouraging. However special efforts are required to bring the volume of trade and investments between the two countries to the higher level.
Bienz said that SBC will be a driving force to achieve this ambitious goal, and the KCCI as one of the leading commercial organisation in Karachi and the whole country can certainly become an important partner to achieve common objectives.
He said that the bilateral trade between Pakistan and Switzerland is growing steadily. The trade volume reached an amount of 400 million Swiss Francs in 2007 and the newly released figures for the first quarter 2008 indicate double digit growth rates in both directions. He noted that the balance of trade is in favour of Switzerland although Pakistan has considerably increased exports to Switzerland in the past few years.
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