Consul General of Malaysia, Ismail Mohamad Bkri has stressed on the need to revisit the existing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) because more products and commodities need to be incorporated in the FTA keeping in view the prevailing circumstances.
"There is a need of a visa-free regime between Pakistan and Malaysia in order to effectively promote people-to-people and business-to-business contacts between the two countries," he said exchanging view with chairman of Pakistan Soap Manufacturers Association (PSMA) Abdullah Zaki, senior vice chairman PSMA Muhammad Ali Zia and other PSMA members during his visit to the PSMA Office.
The Malaysian CG said that if such a visa-free regime was taken into consideration, it would surely bring people closer to each other, enhance the existing trade ties and definitely create a win-win situation for both the countries. "Pakistan has emerged as a good trading partner for Malaysian suppliers who are keen to expand their businesses with Pakistani counterparts," he said expressing optimism that opportunities to further enhance the existing trade ties between the two countries would continue to expand in different brotherly countries.
Chairman PSMA Abdullah Zaki said that the soap industry of Pakistan was looking forward to boost imports of raw materials from Malaysia which has to be facilitated by providing better opportunities under FTA. "Malaysia and Pakistan have been enjoying cordial relations and numerous commodities, particularly edible oils, are currently being traded between the two countries but there is a dire need to diversify the existing product range being traded," he urged.
Zaki said that visit of a PSMA delegation has already been finalised to attend POC-2017 in the first week of March 2017 in Kuala Lumpur. Highlighting the overall structure of Pakistan's soap industry, he informed that around 650 factories were engaged in manufacturing soaps, of which up to 500 were operating in an unorganised manner whereas the remaining 150 factories were fully Organized.
"All these factories are providing employment opportunities to more than 250,000 workers across Pakistan where soap industry contributes a huge sum of rupees 18 billion in revenue to the national exchequer, he said. He further explained that production of laundry soap stood at around 500,000 tons, followed by 150,000 tons of toilet soap production, 50,000 tons of carbolic soap and also a huge production of 175,000 metric tons of detergent per annum. He said that 80 percent of the raw material being used by the soap industry was being imported from different sources and the remaining 20 percent was being produced locally whereas Pakistani soap manufacturers prefer to use Palm By-products to manufacture best quality laundry and toilet soaps.
Commenting on existing trade ties between Pakistan and Malaysia, PSMA chairman said that Pakistan's total export to Malaysia stood at US$144 million and its imports were around US$825 million in 2016, which clearly depicts a huge trade gap which has to be addressed. He underscored the need to make collective efforts to further enhance the existing trade volume to around US$1 billion.
Senior vice chairman PSMA Muhammad Ali Zia said that a book titled 'The Real Face of Pakistan' would soon be published which would promote the positive side of Pakistan and highlight the massive opportunities available in this country. "This book should be in different languages, particularly in English and Malay in order to highlight the potential of Pakistan", he said, adding that PSMA would soon be undertaking this project.