Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and French Embassy on Tuesday renewed their pledge to further enhance co-operation and expand bilateral trade relations through exchange of sector-specific business delegations. This consensus was evolved at a meeting between LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari and French Economic Consul Eric Noitakis here at the LCCI office.
The French diplomat urged the LCCI President to send a sector-specific business delegation to France at the earliest so that Pakistani businessmen could have first-hand knowledge about the available opportunities. He said a delegation of French businesspeople would also visit Pakistan next year.
A joint commission for economic co-operation has also been established to further expand the volume of trade and to strengthen the economic ties between the two countries. Under this commission, both the countries would develop a framework for closer economic and investment links to strengthen mutual relationship, he added. Noitakis said Pakistan had vast potential for investment and a large number of companies were already working in the country by investing huge amount, adding France would continue its financial and technical assistance to Pakistan to overcome its energy crisis which was a key issue as far as economic activities were concerned.
Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari said Pakistan and France shared cordial diplomatic and economic ties. Lashari urged the visiting diplomat to invite more French companies to start business ventures in Pakistan, and said there was a huge potential of trade and investment co-operation between Pakistan and France. "We jointly need to identify possible areas of investment," he added. He said there was a vast scope of joint ventures in the fields of pharmaceutical, food processing, mining, oil and gas. Joint venture opportunities also existed in the field of high technology that included telecommunication, chemicals and automobiles, he added.
He said to further expand commercial and economic ties, it was necessary that both countries had access to each other's markets, which would definitely lead both sides to a more strengthened and stable economic partnership. Lashari stressed the need for exchange of business delegations to explore new avenues of mutual co-operation and to further strengthen Pak-French economic relations.
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