Ambassador designate to Jordan Attiya Mehmood has asked the business community to come forward and initiate joint ventures with their Jordanian counterparts to exploit the marketing opportunities for Pakistani goods in Jordan, particularly daily-use items including leather garments, shoes, fresh fruits, rice and vegetables.
She was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) here on Wednesday. She appreciated the LCCI offer to establish hotline between the LCCI and Pakistan Embassy in Jordan to facilitate trade and exports. Both the Ambassador designate and LCCI office bearers agreed that lack of trade-related information was hitting the business activity hard.
"Until and unless dissemination of sector-specific information is ensured to right people through a tailor-made mechanism any further improvement in economic relations would be only a day dream. There was also a consensus among the participants that exchange of business delegations between the two sides would be focused with new vigor.
Acting President LCCI, Ijaz A Mumtaz said the present scenario demands that developing economies could no longer bury their heads in sand and avoid realities. The only way out is increased economic activity for mutual benefits. The developed world is benefiting a lot in its economic pursuits due to collective participation, whereas we are not collaborating with each other in spite of having deep-rooted attachment with each other, he added.
Pakistan and Jordan need to strengthen their ties at the private sector level. The present state of bilateral trade is not healthy and does not portray the picture according to the potential and needs of the two countries, he said. Mumtaz said exports to Jordan comprise rice, fruits, vegetables, cotton, cotton yarn, fabrics, sesame seeds, surgical instruments, matches, made up articles of textiles, fish and fish preparations but these form a very little fragment of Jordan's imports of these commodities from rest of the world. Pakistan is a producer of finest quality of fruits, vegetables, textile products, leather products and surgical goods while prices of these items are also reasonable. Jordanian importers are meeting their requirements for these commodities from rest of the world.
He pointed out that imports from Jordan consist of natural calcium phosphates, potassic salts, di-ammonium phosphates, aluminium waste and scrap, petroleum and petroleum products. He stressed the need for enhancing exports of goods to Jordan to create a win-win situation for both the countries. Pakistan is one of the leading countries in the world known for a number of products, which still need to be properly introduced in Jordanian markets.
Exports like leather and leather made-ups, tents and canvas products, carpets and rugs, rice, grains and pulses, dairy products, sports goods and surgical instruments, electrical and non electrical home appliances, plastic and rubber products, light engineering products like auto parts and transport equipment, fans, cables and wires, food and live animals can come up to the expectations and requirements of Jordanian markets, he maintained.
He said that Pakistan and Jordan are two brotherly Islamic countries; thus maximum efforts should be made to strengthen relations in all fields. This calls for intensive market research, single country exhibitions on reciprocal basis, frequent visits of trade delegations, exchange of socio-cultural programmes and close contact between trade bodies like the LCCI and Amman Chamber, he added. Executive Members LCCI, Anwaar A Sheikh, Mian Zahid Javed and Dr Shahid Raza also spoke on the occasion.