ICCI for focusing on China to improve trade and exports

Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called upon the government to re-prioritize its traditional approach of looking towards West and Europe for trade and exports and divert more focus towards China as it offered immense opportunities of promoting Pakistan’s commercial and economic interests.

M. Shakeel Munir, Acting President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that bilateral trade between India and China had surpassed US$ 65 billion during 2013 while Pakistan’s trade with China was hovering around $ 10-12 billion despite the fact that there was huge potential to improve it.

He said both countries had signed a Free Trade Agreement in November 2006 in addition to finalizing almost 358 Joint Agreements, MoUs, Joint Declarations and arrangements covering almost every sector of economy, but necessary measures could not be taken to fully materialize these mechanisms due to which the two-way trade was still far below the desired level.

He said Pakistan enjoyed huge export potential to China due to the advantages in agriculture, minerals, chemical, textiles and leather products. Besides, Pakistan has comparative advantage of oil seeds, fruits, base metals, plastic goods and perfumery etc. and stressed that government should accelerate efforts to facilitate entrepreneurs in promoting trade with China.

Shakeel Munir said the global economic power was shifting towards Asia led by China and it was the right time for Pakistan to reorient its economic strategies to enhance cooperation with China, which would yield beneficial outcomes for its economy.

He said Pakistan should encourage and facilitate its private sector in establishing joint ventures with Chinese counterparts in energy, textile, agro farming, food processing, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods and other areas of potential cooperation. He said China could also help Pakistan in developing and modernizing its SMEs sector.

He said strategic partnerships with China including Economic Corridor provided good platforms to strengthen relations with china and added that given the evolving international dynamics and China’s rise as a major global power, it was important for Pakistan to reassess and review the strengths and challenges of its relationship with China in order to move forward in a positive manner