A high-profile business delegation from Ukraine will visit Karachi from May 21 to May 24. During their four-day stay here a memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be signed for the formation of Joint Business Council (JBC) between the Ukranian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI) and Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI).
In the opinion of UCCI, the JBC will "become a practical tool to revive and promote the clauses of the MoU signed in Kyiv in May, 2006." UCCI has recommended Oleksander Ivanchuk, Adviser of the UCCI and Director General, Eastern European Alliance Ltd for the position of the Chairman of the Ukranian Chapter of the JBC.
The delegates from Ukraine will be accompanied by Pakistan's ambassador to Ukraine General Saleem Mela (Retd) and Ambassador of Ukraine to Pakistan Volodymyr Lakomov, along with the first secretary of the embassy of Ukraine in Islamabad, Andriy Romanenko.
The visit of delegates is being facilitated by Pakistan Ukraine Business Council (PUBC) of the FPCCI, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and diplomatic missions of both the countries.
The development leading to further co-operation between the business councils of two countries is the outcome of recent visit undertaken by Pak Ukraine Business Council to Kyiv in Ukraine. During the said visit of the delegates of PUBC, the counterpart National Chamber of Ukraine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCUCCI) in Ukraine considered the need of constituting Ukraine Pak Business Council so that the private sectors of both sides could together help their respective governments in identifying the trade potentials of each others countries. The formation of JBC shall also set the direction for bringing in deskwork to consolidate the recommendations including non-tariff barriers and technical barriers to trade and other associated factors to which national governments need to be sensitised.
Engr M A Jabbar, Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Karachi and Chief Patron of Pak Ukraine Business Council FPCCI (PUBC-FPCCI) talking to Business Recorder said Pakistan and Ukraine had remained in business ties since long with the existence of metallurgical plant, strategic defence needs and elsewhere, which could be put to revival and enhancement in terms of promoting trade, investments, employment's of services in transferring the technologies and helping the industrial, agricultural base of Pakistan with the treasure of experiences gained by Ukraine since the development of Soviet Union, in which Ukraine remained a strong federating unit.
He appreciated the role of PUBC Chairman Nadeem Khalid, Senior Vice Chairmen Shahid Jaffri and Shamim Firpo who were working seriously on all the aspects which required to be projected before national governments with solutions to sensitise the need for improving the business economy of both the countries and enhancement of bilateral trade.
Engr Jabbar explained that the delegates from Ukraine came from various scopes of business namely, activities in the field of nuclear industry, designing and building factories of production of railway sleepers, rail supply diagnostic complexes, mineral fertilisers, legal and consulting services, energy saving technologies, offering win-win co-operation in joint production, oil and gas industry, equipment for oil refinery, oil filling station, services for mobile operators, telecom platform technologies, autonomous control system pipelines, stainless steel pipelines, titanium alloys pipes reconstruction of metallurgical enterprises, construction of power plants, supply of electrical equipment's, metal fabrication, agricultural products, steam and hydraulic turbines, mining industries, facilities and engineering supports to name a few.
Delegates during their stay will have meetings with the Board of Investment, Sindh, call on Governor Sindh, visit Pakistan Steel Mills, Export Processing Zone Authority, textile clothing units, and steel pipe making factories. B2B meetings have also been arranged to know each other and follow each other and know more through visits of both sides businessmen to each other's countries, said Engr M A Jabbar. The delegates will also meet with the CEO of TDAP followed by press conference. The schedule of meetings and interacting with business and economic enterprises and institutions helping in investments and other activities has been focused for a meaningful visit.
Engr Jabbar said that Board of Investment, Sindh alone had many projects to identify and provide details of incentives, it was undertaking for promotion of entrepreneurships and acting as catalyst in exploiting the potential of Sindh through available business scope in mining, wind energy, solar energy, agro economy, constructions and service provisions to support the technological investments in the province.
Thar energy and coal officials will also be providing briefings to the visiting delegates as Ukraine has a very long history and strength of expertise in mining, power generation and heavy duty machinery required for execution of projects in the area of mining, power generation, construction of bridges, rails and roads.
The public private partnership projects alone are providing a series of incentives to investors to venture the very big projects like highways, bridges, silos and other projects of infrastructure supporting nature which are provided by governments to help the private sector in moving the economy amid harmony and in the environment of least cost with provisions of infrastructures developed by governments, which are capitalised by the private sector to do business in different sectors of economy.
Giving an overview of trade, he said that volume of bilateral trade between the two countries decreased to 118 million dollars in 2010-11 from 178 million dollars during 2008-09. Balance of trade remained in favour of Ukraine except for the current year. Pakistan's export has expanded to 74 million dollars in 2010-11 from 19 million dollars during 2006-7, while imports from Ukraine exhibit declining trend. Imports from Ukraine have reduced to 44 million dollars in the current year from 111 dollars during 2006-7.
Pakistan's exports mainly constitute rice, woven cotton fabrics, cotton mixed with manmade fibres, citrus fruits and woven cotton fabrics. Pakistan's imports from Ukraine consist of flat, rolled products of iron, sunflower seeds, whether or not broken, mixture of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium fertilisers, bars and rods, wound coil of iron, non-alloy steel.
Regarding future prospects for economic co-operation between Pakistan and Ukraine, Jabbar said that analysis indicated that there was significant potential for expanding mutually beneficial economic relations between Pakistan and Ukraine. This will require a systemic exploration of emerging economic opportunities between Pakistan and Ukraine. The areas of co-operation span a wide range from bilateral agreements to direct investment, food and energy security, infrastructure and human resource development (HRD).
a. Pakistan and Ukraine should revitalise bilateral trade and economic ties for mutual benefit of the two countries. Ukraine, with a dynamic consumer market, has unlimited scope for Pakistani businessmen dealing in pharmaceuticals, rice, textile yarns, leather and fresh fruits. The opportunity areas for business with the Ukraine are based on upward trends in exports including rice, woven cotton fabrics, cotton mixed with manmade fibres, citrus fruits and IT enabled services. There is a need to activate framework of agreements on trade and economic ties. The great potential for expansion in trade and economic relations between the two countries could be successfully tapped through increased contacts between the private business sectors. There is a dire need for the business communities of the two sides to join hands for joint ventures.
b. Ukraine and Pakistan have had a long history of cordial relations and bilateral trade between the two countries which could be enhanced through diversification of the product range. Frequent exchange of business delegations and holding of single country exhibition would yield desired results. Exchange of business-related information could also help the respective countries to familiarise with each other as the economic co-operation stems out from a general feeling of mutual goodwill. Engr Jabbar identified following problems which were hindering growth of economic relations between the two countries:
i. Bilateral trade between the two countries is far below than the desired level.
ii. The reason of low trade between the two countries is due to lack of exchange of information on trade and investment opportunities between the two countries.
iii. Ukraine has mostly focused her trade with (Exports: Russia 24.1 percent, Turkey 5.9 percent, Italy 4.7 percent) and (Imports: Russia 33.9 percent, China 8.5 percent, Germany 8.1 percent, Poland 5.4 percent, Belarus 4.1 percent).
He suggested following measures to involve business community: Business council, trade fairs, visits etc, both countries allow and facilitate opening of the representative offices of National Chambers to optimise import and export operations. Collecting processing, analysis and systematisation of information to provide mutually beneficial relations between Pakistanis producers and end customers of Ukraine and vice versa.