Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to Pakistan Aleksandar Parashkevov on Saturday visited Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) to discuss ways and means for the promotion of bilateral trade and develop B2B contacts between businessmen of Bulgarian and Pakistan.

Addressing the members of SCCI members he said "We are very keen to promote bilateral trade relations with Pakistan as well as to further strengthen the existing relations between the two friendly countries. The Bulgarian Ambassador stressed upon the business community of Pakistan particularly business community of Sialkot that they explore Bulgarian market and develop B2B contacts with their counterparts.

The exploring of the Bulgarian market would be very useful for the business community of Sialkot for assessing the demand and requirement of Pakistani products in Bulgaria, he pointed out. On this occasion, the visiting ambassador invited the business community of Sialkot that they should invest in Bulgaria and establish their business.

In his address of welcome President SCCI Muhammad Ashraf Malik said that both Pakistan and Bulgaria are committed and making joint efforts for the promotion of bilateral relations.

However, in order to overcome the problems for progressive development in every sector, it is important that we should collaborate and develop a coordinated approach and strategy for betterment of the people of two friendly countries, he added.

Ashraf further stated that trade volume between the two countries in 2018-19 was US 34.78 million dollars adding that there was a huge potential to increase this volume of trade. The SCCI President was of the view that both sides needed to ponder on developing a strategy for bringing improvements adding that we are encouraged by the resolve of both governments to boost the trade and to develop people-to-people linkages, especially the B2B relations should be promoted.

He suggested that both sides should facilitate single country trade exhibitions and encourage frequent exchange of trade delegation for the expansion of trade between the t6wo countries. The SCCI President on this occasion thanked the Bulgaria for supporting Pakistan for retaining the GSP Plus status.