ISLAMABAD: Japan on Monday said that energy crisis and deteriorating law and order situation in Pakistan were key impediments to foreign direct investment. This concern was expressed by Japanese ambassador to Pakistan, Heroshi Oe while addressing Pakistan-Japan joint business meeting presided over by senior Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim.
The Japanese delegation comprising officials from Japanese Association of Commerce and Industry in Pakistan, Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) and country heads of different Japanese companies working in Pakistan headed by Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, shared their respective points of view on different matters in the meeting.
Pakistan's major exports to Japan are aviation fuel, cotton yarn, fabric, seafood, leather garments and carpets and rugs whereas Pakistan's main imports from Japan are auto parts, vehicles, textile machinery, telecom machinery, construction machinery and flat rolled products.
Addressing the participants of the meeting, senior Commerce Minister pointed out that the existing trade volume between Japan and Pakistan is $ 2 billion, which is far below the trade potential between the two countries and it is time to utilise the existing trade potential. Currently there is no such arrangement like Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between Japan and Pakistan and Pakistan-Japan business meeting would be a major step toward the implementation of such arrangements.
The Japanese delegation stated that Japanese official development assistance would be utilised for improving infrastructure especially in railway sector. They expressed interest in exporting items from Pakistan to India but requested the Government of Pakistan's assistance in reducing non-tariff barriers on Indian side. The Japanese delegation also noted that Japanese market might be explored for value added textile items.
The Japanese ambassador mentioned that they were arranging various investment seminars to attract foreign direct investment to Pakistan but energy crisis and law and order situation were two major obstacles in this way. He agreed that public perception about deteriorating law and order situation of Pakistan was worse than the actual condition and advised the government of Pakistan to work seriously to change this perception.
The meeting also discussed the need to utilise the potential of exports of value added textile products to Japan and import of textile machinery from Japan. While arguing the existing disadvantageous position of Pakistani textile exports to Japan due to non-availability of any bilateral trade arrangements, Pakistani side proposed that a concessionary package might be given by Japan for Pakistani exports. The meeting also discussed the potential of proposed Japan Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and textile city in Pakistan and argued that this would be a major step to enhance Japanese investment in Pakistan and to effectively address issues hindering investment like law and order situation and power shortages.
Comments
Comments are closed.