By Asad Cheema
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ICT companies have immense potential to explore business partnerships in Canada, said Candus International Consulting Inc President Badar Shamim. During his visit to the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Shamim said that Canada had $800 billion worth of annual trade with the US and Pakistan could get beneficial results for its economy by promoting trade cooperation with Canada.
He said that Canada had signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with G7 countries and Pakistan could increase its exports to these nations by promoting trade with Canada. He was also of the view that Pakistan could attract foreign direct investment by developing transparent trade laws and regulations.
Shamim added that the need for capital and development projects was emerging in developing countries and his purpose of visiting Pakistan was to explore joint venture and investment prospects for Canadian companies. He told businessmen that he would try to share information about business and investment opportunities in Canada for Pakistani companies with the ICCI so that its members could capitalise on them.
ICCI President Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that Pakistan was an emerging market and emphasised that Canadian investors should explore joint venture and investment opportunities with technology transfer to achieve lucrative results in Pakistan.
He said that many MNCs of the world were now taking a keen interest in Pakistan and the time was ripe for Canadian companies to seriously look at business prospects in the country. Waheed was of the view that by investing in Pakistan, Canadian companies could get easy access to Central Asian and other markets. He pointed out that Pakistan-Canada bilateral trade was around $1.5 billion, which was far less than the actual potential of both countries and stressed that both sides should make strong efforts for trade promotion.
