US Commercial Counselor Brian McCleary said on Thursday that the US was interested in strengthening economic ties with Pakistan. Talking to Business Recorder, he further said that the US was very much aware of the importance of having economic ties with Pakistan. He was optimistic that after the reassessment of Pak-US relationship by the Pakistan Parliament both sides would start a new relationship and things would move a lot more quickly between the two countries.
To a question about bilateral investment treaty, he said that talks were still under way, About the delay of Reconstruction Opportunity Zones, he said it had to be approved by the US Congress, but right now it was hard to get trade legislation approved by them.
When asked why do the Pakistani companies face problems in getting into the US market, he responded that their marketing was a problem; finding right contacts, representative agents or distributor was a challenge for them.
McCleary said that they received a similar feedback from the Pakistani embassy in the US. "Although our job is to promote the US businesses, but through our efforts we are also facilitating other countries by highlighting foreign companies' profiles in the US. In fact, we are also promoting foreign companies' potential and success. We are looking for investment in the US, but we are also looking for a two-way trade as well as two-way investment," he added.
About Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Pakistan, he said it takes years to mature a FTA with any country, but this should not stop trade. He said he foresaw a huge potential in the regional trade that could benefit Pakistan. He pointed out that the US government wished to see a strong trade ties in this region and that was why it had welcomed the Pakistani's overtures with its neighbouring country.
He believed that in the next few years, the economy of this region and in particular of Pakistan would improve. "Pakistan is the sixth populous country in the world and hence its potential of consumer based economy is staggering. Pakistan is a very promising market and my message to the American businesses is to invest in this part of the world," he added.
Regarding Pak-Iran gas pipeline project, he said there were other alternatives/sources available for Pakistan to meet its energy requirement, but they needed to recognise that there were long-term and historic ties (between Pakistan and the US) that must be respected. "I think, by diversifying its resources and trading with its neighbours, Pakistan is destined to economic boom," he added.
Talking about the Pak-US trade, he said it was fairly robust, which was over $5 billion; the US had a trade deficit with Pakistan of over $2 billion. He believed that this figure could be even bigger; there was still a room for further growth in a wider array of sectors.
According to him, there were certain challenges that were limiting the expansion of Pak-US trade. To encourage foreign investment, Pakistan needed to carry out structural and economic reforms, ensure Intellectual Property Rights and improve transparency with less red tape. Also, security concern was another issue. However, there were huge business opportunities in Pakistan, but unfortunately not many Americans were aware of it. Both his department and Pakistan needed to do a better job in informing the Americans public about it. He was of the view that they needed to build bridges between those involved in economic development and commerce activities.
He praised the business community of Pakistan, especially young entrepreneurs. He said that the young entrepreneurs were well versed with information technology (IT), which in his opinion reduced the role of middleman and gave them a direct access to clients. He said that this country had some best software engineers in the world. "Pakistan should invest heavily in IT sector," he added.