Spain is ready to cooperate with Pakistan in expanding their bilateral trade with a focused approach on food processing and tourism development. Addressing the members of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) here on Tuesday, Misuel Pena, Economic and Commercial Attaché of the Embassy of Spain told that Spain has made tremendous progress in industrial sector while 90 million tourists visited Spain last year.
He said that private sector of Pakistan should avail the expertise and experience of Spain in these sectors. He also mentioned 70 thousands Pakistani living in Spain and told that they are contributing their role in the overall development, progress and prosperity of Spain. He said that Pakistan could export a long chain of different products to Spain and other EU countries but the main emphasis of Pakistan remained on the textile.
He said that Pakistan should diversify its export by exploiting the opportunities of export available in other fields also. He stressed the need for B2B linkages between the private sectors of two countries and hoped that Spanish embassy will remain in touch with R&D Directorate of FCCI for exchange of current business trends prevailing in two countries.
Earlier, in his address of welcome, President FCCI Syed Zia Alumdar Hussain said that Faisalabad is third major city of Pakistan. "This city is contributing 55% towards textile and 30% towards total export of Pakistan", he said and expressed satisfaction over the bilateral trade between two countries. He said that Pakistani settled in Spain should also play their role in technology transfer to Pakistan.
Syed Zia Alumdar Hussain said that quantum of bilateral trade stood at 1113.48 million dollars in 2017. "Pakistani made 904.52 million dollar export while imports from Spain was only 208.5 million, thus the balance of trade remained in favour of Pakistan.:
Hussain said that Pakistan is 4th largest milk producing country. Similarly, we are also producing a large number of organic crops which could be used in value addition. He said that Spain has developed latest technology for the value addition and we must get benefit of this technology to promote value addition in Pakistan. He further told that Spain could also invest in this sector in addition to technology transfer to Pakistan as it would be a win-win position for the two countries.
A documentary on economic importance of Faisalabad was also screened while former textile minister Mushtaq Ali Cheema , Mian Muhammad Latif , Vice President Engineer Ihtesham Javaid , Engineer Asim Muneer , Haji Muhammad Saleem, Mian Gulzar Ahmed, Mian Kashif Zia, Regional Chairman Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association, Chaudhary Muhammad Asghar, Secretary General FCCI Abid Masood and other members also took part in the question-answer session . Later, Senior Vice President Mian Tanveer Ahmed offered vote of thanks while Chaudhary Mushtaq Ali Cheema Presented FCCI shield to Misuel Pena.