The economic potential of Pakistan and Brunei will be reassessed particularly to make textile sector of Faisalabad more attractive and profitable for the investors of Brunei, said Dato Mahmud Saidin High Commissioner of Brunei Darussalam. He was addressing a meeting of businessmen and industrialists at FCCI here on Tuesday. He said that Brunei is very small country while its economy is totally dependent on oil and gas.
He said that 70 percent area of Brunei is consistent of forests and only remaining 30 percent is utilised for agriculture and industry. "This area is insufficient even to fulfil its food requirements and hence we have to import food items from neighbouring Asian countries", he said and added that Brunei is also importing Basmati rice while Pakistani mango is also very popular in Brunei. However, he identified heavy expenditures of transportation as main cause of low trade volume between the two countries.
He said that ultimate objective of his visit is to explore the opportunities for enhancement of bilateral trade between the two countries. He further said that Pak-Brunei Investment Company based in Karachi is working for the promotion of bilateral trade. Regarding textile, he said that we have to take measures to make local textile products competitive as compared to the similar products from China and Bangladesh. Dato Mahmud Saidin further said that he has also visited University of Agriculture to develop the agriculture of his country on modern scientific lines. He also pointed out that Brunei intends to enhance the productivity of its rice crop without bringing more land under plough. He further told that Brunei Investment Agency was also working on diversification of its exports. "It has been investing in real estate and hotel industry in various countries and certainly it will assess the economic potential of Pakistan to explore the opportunities for future investment", he added.
This study, he said, will help it to take prudent decisions for investment or launching joint ventures with Pakistani entrepreneurs. Earlier, in his welcome address, Syed Zia Alamdar Hussain Senior Vice President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) said that CPEC has turned Pakistan into land of opportunities and the investors of Brunei should also get benefit out of it. He said that FCCI was the third largest chamber of Pakistan while it was also contributing more than 50 percent towards total textile exports of the country.
A documentary on Faisalabad and FCCI was also screened to highlight the importance of this agro-industrial city. Chaudhary Muhammad Asghar, Chaudhary Talat Mahmood and Sanaullah Khan Niazi took part in the question answer session while Mr Ahmad Hasan executive member FCCI paid vote of thanks to the High Commissioner of Brunei. Later, Syed Zia Alamdar Hussain along with Sanaullah Khan Niazi and Rana Sikandar-e-Azam presented FCCI memento to Dato Mahmud Saidin. Later, the Brunei High Commissioner also presented a crest of the embassy of Brunei to SVP Syed Zia Alamdar Hussain.