LAHORE: A delegation of diplomats of Philippine stationed in Islamabad visited the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Monday.
The delegation comprised Charge d’ Affairs, Head of Philippines Mission in Pakistan, Maria Agnes M. Cervantes, Honorary Consul General Fahdel Sheikh, Vice Consul Dan Bagaporo and Economic Assistant Sumaira Bibi.
The Philippine embassy and the FPCCI agreed to organize and exchange trade and investment missions to further enhance bilateral trade and investments.
Maria Agnes M. Cervantes highlighted the strong ties between the Philippines and Pakistan since 1949, adding that high-level exchanges and agreements signed by both countries were a testament to the close relationship.
On occasion, President FPCCI Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) of the Philippines, specifically the Bureau of Export Trade Promotion and the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry has also signed an agreement for the establishment of JBC. He further said that it is surprising that despite substantial friendly relations the volume of our trade is low, just US $ 196 million out of which Pakistan’s share in exports to the Philippines stood at US$ 127 million. One of the reasons for the low volume of bilateral trade is that both sides are confined to a few items of bilateral exports and imports.
Regional Chairman FPCCI Muhammad Nadeem Qureshi said a mechanism should be established to promote cooperation in all spheres of common interest to oversee cooperation in economic, commercial and technical fields. Relevant national institutions should hold consultations on the prospects of cooperation in the fields of common interests. He further said that seminars and exhibitions should be organized in Pakistan and the Philippines to create awareness about each other’s products. It is essential to have an efficient system for the issuance of business visas.
Meanwhile, the Ambassador of Nepal Tapas Adhikari, Ambassador of Azerbaijan Khazar Farhadov and Ambassador of Turkmenistan Atadjan Movlamov visited the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry in a day and have a deep discussion on the trade and economic ties between Pakistan and their respective countries.
LCCI President Mian Nauman Kabir presented the addresses of welcome while Senior Vice President Mian Rehman Aziz Chan and Vice President Haris Ateeq also spoke on the occasion. The Executive Committee Members were also present in the meetings.
Ambassador of Nepal Tapas Adhikari said Nepal sees Pakistan as a preferred partner and is keen to expand trade relations. He said that Nepal Chamber has inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Lahore Chamber implementation on which in true sense of words can help increase bilateral trade. While calling for exchange of trade delegations between the two countries, the Ambassador said that he himself will bring a delegation of Nepali businessmen to Pakistan soon.
Ambassador of Azerbaijan Khazar Farhadov said the Lahore Chamber is playing a key role in maintaining good economic relations between the two countries. He said that Pakistan is a strong country and has supported Azerbaijan in testing times. “We want to further improve the trade relations with Pakistan”, the Ambassador said and added that cultural cooperation should be promoted.
Ambassador of Turkmenistan Atadjan Movlamov said his country gives a great importance to better relations with Pakistan and wants to speed up work on Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) Pipeline Project. He said that a logistics center has been established for transit trade in Turkmenistan but one route cannot meet the requirements, so access to the ports of Karachi and Gwadar is very important.
Talking to the Ambassador of Nepal, LCCI President Mian Nauman Kabir said that Pakistan and Nepal are members of SAARC and enjoy friendly relations since 1960s. We keep on emphasizing for having well devised strategy for ensuring regional peace through maintaining trade and economic relations among SAARC countries. Nepal, being a land-locked country between China and India can understand the importance of regional trade better than others. He said that Nepal has import-oriented economy whose imports are far greater than exports. In year 2021, the value of its total imports was around 15.8 billion dollars against the total exports which were just 1.7 billion dollars.
Mian Nauman Kabir said that these are noticeable facts that Nepal has to depend a lot on India and China for importing basic materials. The shares of India and China were almost 61% and 15% respectively in total imports which amounted to dollar 12 billion in 2021. He said that as far as our trade ties between Pakistan and Nepal are concerned, we need to adopt innovative ways to know more about each other’s potential areas. Despite having long and cordial relations, the volume of total trade between two countries remained limited to 7.3 million dollars during 2021.
LCCI Vice President Haris Ateeq said that the Lahore Chamber will be pleased to join hands with the ambassador of Nepal for planning some activities that can play a supporting role in introducing more Pakistani products in Nepal. He said that Pakistani products are best and can easily cater to the need of Nepalee market.
While talking to the Ambassador of Azerbaijan, the LCCI President said that Pakistan and Azerbaijan have unique historical, religious, cultural and political commonalities which are beyond the geographical distances. Both Pakistan and Azerbaijan have good diplomatic relations but we have yet to succeed in translating these ties into maintaining sound bilateral trade.
The LCCI President said that according to the trade figures taken from the State Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan’s exports to Azerbaijan in 2021-22 were 6.3 million dollars while our imports were merely 1.5 million dollars. This essentially means that the total trade volume between two countries is even less than 10 million dollars. There is a need to explore the ways of increasing trade between both countries. He said that the total global imports of Azerbaijan are above 11 Billion Dollars. The pharmaceutical imports of Azerbaijan are around 528 million dollars, tractor parts 110 million dollars, furniture 197 million dollars, edible fruits 135 million dollars and dairy products 157 million dollars etc. Pakistan can easily supply these products to Azerbaijan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
Comments
Comments are closed.