LCCI vows to enhance Pak share in Malaysian import

LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Malik Tahir Javaid has expressed the resolve to make all out efforts to enhance Pakistan's share in Malaysian imports of 163.4 billion.

According to Lahore Chamber's spokesman here Wednesday, he was speaking at a dinner hosted by Pakistani High Commissioner in Malaysia Nafees Zakaria in honor of the LCCI delegation that moved to Malaysia after having a very successful visit of Indonesia.

LCCI President said that Pakistan and Malaysia had close and cordial relations since long and this relationship was growing and strengthening with the passage of time but this should be reflected in mutual trade and economic ties.

He said that Pakistan's major exports to Malaysia were cereal, textiles and clothing, rice, vegetables, seafood (fresh, chilled and frozen), chemical and chemical products whereas major imports from Malaysia were palm oil, chemical products, electrical and electronic products.

Other exports from Pakistan to Malaysia included fish, potatoes, onion, maize, cotton yarn, woven fabrics, synthetic staple fibre, bed-linen, electrical apparatus for line telephony and parts and accessories, whereas other imports from Malaysia were rubber, wood, synthetic filament yarn, insecticides, automatic data processing machines and parts and accessories, he maintained.

Malik said that China, Singapore, Japan, USA, Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia were the major trade partners of Malaysia, and it was a bit discouraging that Pakistan was not in this list despite good relations with Malaysia and having best-of-the-best products in the world.

He suggested establishment of display center for Pakistani products in Pakistani embassies abroad to grab the attention of foreign buyers. The balance of trade had always been in favour of Malaysia and this situation was prevailing, and over the last five years, this gap had constantly been closing but still the total imports from Malaysia were six times of Pakistan's exports to Malaysia, he added.

Malaysia and Pakistan, he said, had already signed a Free Trade Agreement which came into effect in January 2008, adding, "It provided us good platform to be utilized for a win-win situation but Pakistan achieved far lesser than its potential."

He said the business community was trying its level best to make good use of FTA but there had to be some support provided by the Ministry of Commerce and especially commercial section of Pakistan's High Commission in Malaysia. He said, "We want to acquire some justifiable share in trade with Malaysia. There is a huge potential of exporting Pakistani rice, fresh fruits like citrus and mango to Malaysia."

Malik Tahir Javaid said that FTA did provide Pakistan exporters certain edge in the form of duty relief on fruit and vegetables etc. but due to knowing little about the packaging and certain requirements related to certification of food items, they could not make full utilization of these opportunities.

He said that joint ventures in the fields of livestock and dairy, food processing, energy, chemicals, Halal products and especially in light engineering could further strengthen the trade ties between two countries.

He said, "We need to develop good liaison with our Mission in Malaysia in order to overcome all the challenges involved in enhancing exports to Malaysia."

Pakistan High Commissioner to Malaysia M. Nafees Zakaria lauded the efforts of Lahore Chamber of Commerceand Industry, and said that LCCI was leading from the front.

He urged Pakistani businessmen to evolve strategy to tap huge potential existed in Malaysia. He assured that he would make all out efforts to turn Pakistan mission in Malaysia into a match-making point for the business community in the two countries. He said that he would also utilize Malaysian media to highlight the soft image of Pakistan as in today's world media was a strong tool to propagate information.

The delegation members Shahid Nazir, Awais Saeed Piracha, Muhammad Wasim, Haseeb Khawar, Shabbir Bhatti, Malik Muhammad Islam, Muhammad Farooq, Mian Faisal Majeed and Muhammad Arshad Bhatti also expressed their views about Pak-Malaysia trade relations.