'Economic ties between Pakistan and Myanmar need to be strengthened'

Economic relations between Pakistan and Myanmar need to be further strengthened as $70 million bilateral trade between the two states has no match to their respective latent potentials said Ambassador of Myanmar to Pakistan, U San Myint. Speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, here on Wednesday, he said that the exchange of trade-related information and exchange of business delegations could jack up the volume of two-way trade to desired levels.
"We can promote our trade and economic ties by promoting social and cultural ties," he said. "There should be more exchange programmes and reciprocal visits and they should learn from each other's experiences," he said. "Let's increase our trade. Let's have more trade and more exchange of skills and technology and help each other," he added.
LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that the trade figures reflect that there was a lot of potential yet to be explored between the two countries. The situation called for aggressive marketing of Pakistani merchandise in Myanmar and vice versa, he added. He said that in order to give a quick boost to two-way trade, exchange of trade delegations between the two countries could be the best strategy to adopt. In addition to that single country exhibitions and regular interactions between chambers of both countries could also play great role in strengthening economic relations.
LCCI Senior Vice President Kashif Younis Meher called for a well tailored strategy to promote trade among the regional countries. He said that the LCCI was ready to extend co-operation with the Myanmar businessmen if they wanted to initiate joint ventures with their Pakistani counterparts.
Pakistan exports medicament mixtures, cement, medicinal plants, leather, edible offal, woven cotton fabrics, electro-medical apparatus to Myanmar. Whereas dried vegetables & fruits, vegetable products, wood & wooden sheets, frozen seafood, jute and other textile fibers, medicinal plants and etc are imported from Myanmar. Myanmar imports motorcycles, auto parts, various textile items, non-alcoholic beverages from abroad. Pakistan has the ability to strengthen trade ties with Myanmar in these areas and can capture greater share of Myanmar's market.