The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the British Business Centre (BBC) on Monday inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at expansion of trade and economic ties between Pakistan and United Kingdom. The LCCI Senior Vice President Almas Hyder and the British Business Center Chief Executive Officer Malahat Awan signed the MoU on behalf of their respective of organisations.
British High Commissioner Thomas Drew, Provincial Finance Minister Ayesha Ghaus Pasha and Head of Department for International Development Ben French were also present on the occasion. Basic objective of the MoU is to encourage, promote and facilitate effective cooperation in the areas of trade, investment, technology and related economic & industrial activities by establishing effective communication between member companies of both the organisations with particular reference to the private sector.
The British Business Centre's Chief Executive Officer Malahat Awan said the Centre would ensure ease of doing business between the two countries through facilitating the business community. The MoU will help improve collaboration between the two organisations; she said and added that British Business Center would give the companies of both the countries a cost-effective, in-country physical resource to facilitate quick access to the information and expertise necessary to achieve business success.
British High Commissioner Thomas Drew said that the British Business Center opened earlier this year. It fulfils the commitment, given by Prime Minister Cameron to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, that the United Kingdom government, with the assistance of the Pakistan government, would establish a new body in Pakistan to boost bilateral trade and investment between our two countries. He said that the Center would work throughout the country. But today's signing in Lahore is particularly special for us - not just because we do so on the day that we are also celebrating the Queen's Birthday in Lahore - but because Lahore, and the province of which it is capital, he added.
He said that businesses should be working together here and thriving. "It is a message I give here and one I give back in the UK. And this MoU is an important part of it. Through it, the British Business Center can assist in opening up the opportunities available to a wide business and audience in the UK" he added.
Provincial Finance Minister Ayesha Ghaus Pasha said that Pakistan is one of the biggest and emerging markets of Asia. Punjab is trillion plus economy and it has strong commercial, service and industrial sectors which have a lot of scope for the foreign investors. She also welcomed the MoU between the Lahore Chamber and British Business Center saying that facilitation to the businessmen would certainly give more strength to the business ties between the two countries.
The LCCI Senior Vice President Almas Hyder said that this MOU is a result of close co-ordination between the LCCI and British High Commission. The UK has always been a major trading partner of Pakistan. These facts clearly validate such a strong commercial ties between two countries that UK comes at 1st place among the top export markets in the Europe for Pakistan. With regard to major importing countries to Pakistan from EU, UK takes the 2nd position.
He said that it is good to witness upward trend in both exports and imports between Pakistan and UK. From 2013 to 2014, our exports to UK jumped up from US $1.43 billion to $1.66 billion. Similarly, the value of imports from UK also followed the same trend as it rose from $545 million to $600 million in the same period. These positive trends caused the bilateral trade to increase from $1.98 billion to $2.26 billion. We need to maintain this trend, he said.
He said that UK has been contributing a sufficient amount in net flow of foreign investment in Pakistan. We at present are facing number of challenges in attracting new FDI. We want that UK based investors should consider Pakistan for investments. It goes without saying that you can play pivotal role in this regard. "Pakistan was awarded GSP plus status by European Union Commission which became effective in January 2014 till 2017. We anticipated an increase in Pakistan's exports to EU roughly to dollar 2 billion per year but it did not happen. We look up towards you to get greater access to European markets", he added.