By Asad Cheema
ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Belgium Philippe Bronchain has said that his country is interested in making investment in Pakistan as it is a potential country for business and investment activities. The Ambassador of Belgium along with his Trade Commissioner Abid Husain visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) on Tuesday and addressed the business community.
Philippe Bronchain discussed various prospects for further enhancing bilateral trade, investment and JVs between Belgium and Pakistan. He said that he would play role to build a strong image of Pakistan in his country. Trade Commissioner Embassy of Belgium, Abid Husain said that Pakistan was mostly exporting textiles products and some raw materials to Belgium. However, he said that Pakistan needed to invest in technology for producing value added products that would increase its footprint in foreign markets. He said it would also help Pakistan to fully capitalize on the GSP Plus concession of EU in order to enhance its exports.
He said that Pakistani diaspora in Belgium could play role for upscaling bilateral trade ties between the two countries.
Speaking at the occasion, President ICCI Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that Belgium was one of Pakistan’s important trading partners within the European Union, however, the bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Belgium was
still below USD 1 billion despite the fact that both countries have the potential to promote trade in many areas. He briefed the Belgium Ambassador about the potential opportunities for JVs and investment in Pakistan. He said that Turkey, Germany, UK and many other countries were taking keen interest in CPEC and stressed that Belgium’s investors should bring technology to setup JVs in Pakistan.
Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that Pakistan and Belgium were doing trade in limited items, which was the main reason of low trade volume and stressed that both countries should focus on diversification of trade to achieve better results. He said that geographical positions of Pakistan and Belgium offered the entrepreneurs of both countries unique opportunities for getting enhanced market access in their respective regions, which could be exploited
by developing strong business linkages between private sectors of both countries. He said that Embassy of Belgium should share list of its top 10 imports so that Pakistani exporters could make efforts to meet its imports needs.
Malik Sohail Hussain, Faad Waheed, M. Aslam Khokhar, Mian Arif Hussain and others also spoke at the occasion and gave suggestions for further improving bilateral trade and economic relations between Pakistan and Belgium.
