The Ambassador of Republic of Indonesia, Ishak Latuconsina, has said that an Indonesian trade delegation will be visiting Pakistan in February 2012 to have business deals and joint ventures with their Pakistani counterparts. While speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Thursday, he said the Preferential Trade Agreement, which is being signed in January, would help harness the trade and business potential in the two countries and increase bilateral trade.
He also stressed the need for exchange of subject specialists and sector specific experts so that both the countries could be able to learn more and more from each other's experiences. Ishak Latuconsina said that sharing of experiences had no match when we talk of any specific product or trade with any country so Pakistan and Indonesia must share their experiences in the larger interests of the business communities in the two countries.
Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that Pakistan's major exports to Indonesia includes cotton, raw hides & skins, fish, cereals, beverages, spirits and etc. Whereas we import mineral fuels, oils, fruits, paper & paper board, animal & vegetable fats, man-made staple fibres and etc, from Indonesia. He said that still a lot is desired in view of the size of markets of the two countries. He said that the Preferential Trade Agreement between two countries that is going to be effective from January 2012 will go a long way in seizing this downward trend in bilateral trade and turn around the situation to benefit both the countries.
He said although Indonesia has offered market access to 220 Pakistani items and in response to that Pakistan has agreed to reduce duty on 288 Indonesian products but this list needs to be expanded in coming future for greater trade opportunities for the businessmen of both the countries.
He said that exchanging trade delegations, arranging single country exhibitions and organising socio-cultural programmes in each other's country could play a vital role to increase the bilateral trade. He said that there is also a lot of scope for Indonesia to make investment in Pakistan. Indonesia has a fairly advanced petro-chemical, rubber, plywood, telecommunication and tourism industry. Indonesia can make direct investment in these industries and can also enter into joint ventures with Pakistani counterparts.
He proposed that these potential areas need to be studied and monitored by the commercial sections of diplomatic missions for promoting trade and investment between the two countries.