Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) President Abdul Basit and Pakistan High Commissioner in Australia Naela Chauhan Friday in a meeting in Canberra decided to further cement trade and economic relations between Pakistan and Australia. There was also a consensus to adopt new methodology to expedite the volume of two-way trade.
According to the LCCI spokesman, Naela Chauhan said that Pakistani Consulate in Australia would share available business opportunities and would pave way for joint ventures between the private sectors of the two countries. She said the private sector would have to play an important role to enhance existing trade volume that does not match the potential of the two countries. She appreciated the LCCI efforts to promote external trade of Pakistan and promised to extend beset cooperation to promote bilateral trade.
Abdul Basit said that Pakistani missions abroad should establish display centers for Pakistani products and cultural centers to promote Pakistani culture. These measures would help Pakistani products to get due share in the global market and would also attract foreigners towards Pakistan.
He said the size of global market for Halal products is estimated at three trillion US dollars. Pakistan is a natural base for Halal products. "If we could acquire 10 percent share in its trade then we can easily enhance our exports by more than two times." With regard to major exporting countries of Pakistan, Australia takes 26th position. Similarly, Australia comes at 16th rank among the top importing countries to Pakistan, he said.