Muhammad Nafees Zakaria designated Pakistani High Commissioner to Malaysia said on Friday that Pakistani business community should play pivotal and proactive role to bridge trade deficit between the two countries.
Addressing the meeting at Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (FCCI), he said that Malaysia was a small country with
total population of about 30 million but every year 26 million
tourists visit the country which was quite enough number to create
demand of Pakistani goods of different kinds.
Mr. Zakaria said that he would try his optimum to bring business community of two countries closer to each other so that they could launch joint ventures for value addition which would also generate
much needed economic activities in Pakistan.
He said that he was also contemplating to set up a ‘Display Centre’
for Pakistani products in addition to establish a Cultural Centre in Malaysia to cement people to people contacts.
He requested the President FCCI to identify specific products of textile chain, enabling him to pave way for its exports to Malaysian markets.
He said that although Malaysia was itself a small market but
through this brotherly Islamic country, we could have access to a
big market of ASEAN. However, for this purpose, the government as well
as business community would have to make concerted efforts with a
strong commitment of patriotism.
He said that 20 percent of Malaysian population belongs to Buddhists community. Pakistan has many religious sites for this Buddhists community but during last few years not even a single Buddhist visited Pakistan.
He said that he would also try to exploit this important aspect of
Pakistan to promote religious tourism for the Baddish community.
He said that he had planned to organize an exhibition of Pakistani products in April next year in Malaysia in collaboration with LCCI.
He invited the FCCI to join this initiative to market the Pakistan related products of Faisalabad.
He further said that Malaysian government had ratified an agricultural agreement which would also help us to export agricultural products to Malaysian markets. However, Pakistani exporters must examine this
agreement to explore new potential market of Malaysian for the export
of agriculture products from Pakistan. He said that Pakistan had
potential to export fish and fish preparations but it was irony of
fact that we failed to tap this potential.
Regarding exchange of trade delegations, he said that he could immediately arrange video conferences for Pakistani exporters with Malaysian importers so that they could negotiate and decide to
launch joint ventures or make import and export deals.
He said that Malaysian educational institutes were also ranked
the best in the region while there fee was comparatively lesser
than European countries. He said that Pakistani students should
avail from this opportunity. He assured that he would also try
to convince Malaysian government to offer sufficient number of
scholarships for Pakistani students, aspiring to study in Malaysia.
He further said that approximately 100,000 workers were employed
in Malaysia. There is still room to export human resource to this
country and he will certain focus on this aspect also, he added.
He asked the President FCCI to share any market study conducted
by FCCI so that he could further fine tune it to make room for Pakistani exports in Malaysian markets.
In his welcome address, Shabbir Hussain Chawla, President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that the volume of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Malaysia was only 944.632 million dollars. Pakistan
is importing different items including palm oil from Malaysia worth
792.886 million dollar whereas its exports are at only 151.346 million dollars. Thus the balance of trade is in favor of Malaysia, he added.
He stressed the need for attracting Malaysian investment
particularly in food processing industry.
Later, FCCI shield was also presented to the designated High Commissioner to Malaysia Mr. Muhammad Nafees Zakaria.

Source: APP