The French President Nicolas Sarkozy will visit Pakistan by the end of this year to finalise an agreement of global partnership under which access of Pakistani businesses to the global market would be further strengthened besides advancement in the technology. The French Economic and Commercial Counsellor Dominique Simon revealed this while speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday.
He said that France had a history of relations with Pakistan and desires to further strengthen it. He said that French Minister of Foreign Trade Anne-Marie IDRAC along with a team of member parliaments and businessmen also visiting Lahore to have a direct interaction with the business community.
France was ready to cooperate with Pakistan in civil nuclear technology to overcome the ongoing energy crisis and for that purpose French companies were ready to make investment, he said. Dominique Simon further said that ALCATEL and TOTAL were planning to increase their investments in coming days.
It makes the point that France desires early economic revival of Pakistan, he said, adding that France had recently signed an agreement with Agriculture University Faisalabad that would help Pakistan's agriculture sector in a big way, Dominique Simon said.
Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI President Mian Muzaffar Ali stressed the need for catalogue exhibitions, exchanges of delegations, holding single country exhibitions, and country weeks on reciprocal basis to increase the volume of two-way trade.
There was a vast scope of joint ventures in the field of food processing, mining, oil and gas, he said adding that joint venture opportunities also exist in the field of high technology that includes telecommunication, chemicals, automobiles and shipbuilding.
He said the French companies could also participate in infrastructure development projects like railways, seaport development, telecommunications and electronics. He said Pakistan's agriculture produce was among the best in the world but it had failed to exploit the traditional strength in agriculture, horticulture, livestock and food processing due to lack of technology.
Although Pakistan was the 5th largest producer of milk in the world, the current industry was inadequate to meet the growing demand for milk and other dairy related products. In this regard, French equipment and technology can help exploit Pakistan's full potential in agriculture, horticulture, dairy, livestock and food processing sectors he added.
France and Pakistan had been steady trading partners. Analysis for the year 2007-08 shows that the trade between the two countries stood around 826 Million US Dollar. Pakistan's imports from France remained 464 million US Dollar, while Pakistan's exports to France figured around 362 million US Dollar during the year 2007. These figures clearly indicate that both the countries were not benefiting considerably in each other's respective markets, he said.
He said that traditionally, Pakistan and France had shared cordial diplomatic and economic ties. Both the countries had shared common perception on major issues related to international and regional peace and security. The French multinationals had been able to find the favourable environment for long-term investment in Pakistan.
Brand names like Total, Alcatel and LU have found acceptance in the Pakistani market on the basis of the strength of their products. Apart from these, there were several French firms engaged in the field of electrical equipment, oil and gas, rural telephony, civil engineering and defence, he added.
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