FROM MENAHILL RASHID
FAISALABAD: Malaysia has been put on a growth trajectory as 36% increase was recorded in its bilateral trade between Pakistan and Malaysia, said Mr. Deddy Faisal Ahmad Salleh Charged Affair of the Malaysian High Commission.
He was addressing the business community in Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) here today.
He expressed his pleasure over the similarity in his name with the city of Faisalabad and said that it has almost doubled his pleasure to it. He said that Pakistan and Malaysia have enjoyed good diplomatic relations since 1957 which has now gained strategic importance. He also mentioned the recent visit of Malaysian Foreign Minister Mr. Saiful Din Abdullah and said that with the visit of Mr. Mahathir Mohamad our relations have enhanced at the multilateral stages.
He said that in 2021 bilateral trade recorded a phenomenal growth of 36% while according to the World Bank report Malaysia is heading towards a “high income economy” and its benefits are also being enjoyed by the people of this country. He said that the Malaysian Government is heavily investing in its human resource capital which would help it to achieve sustainable economic goals very soon. He further said that our growth is around 4.5 % which is expected to jump to 5% during next year. He said that Malaysia has huge potential for foreign investment as it provides a huge ASEAN market of 15 countries comprising 39% population of this economic block. He said that Pakistani investors should also benefit from these opportunities in the current scenario. He said that he is just completing his diplomatic stay in Pakistan but he will always remain accessible to the business community of Pakistan. Mr. Faisal Salleh also appreciated the initiative of the FCCI to hold a national level economic conference and requested President Atif Munir to send him a formal invitation so that he could convince Kuala Lumpur and other chambers of Malaysia to participate in it. He said that he would also request concerned Malaysian ministries to send their representative to participate in it. Regarding coconut, he said that he could arrange a meeting between importers and exporters of the two countries dealing in this commodity. He also appreciated the excellent performance of Pakistan in the IT sector and said that Malaysia has also excelled in animation. Earlier Mr. Atif Munir Sheikh introduced Faisalabad and FCCI and said that this third major city of Pakistan is playing a key role in the national economy. “This city is contributing 45% share in the total textile export of Pakistan in addition to catering 80% domestic needs of clothing”, he said and added that two major industrial estates have been established which are providing international level facilities to the prospective industrialists and investors. He said that 65 Chinese units are already operative in addition to 11 other countries. He said that many more are in the pipeline and we are expecting that these units would start their production within the next couple of years. He also underlined the importance of the need for B2B meetings between the businessmen of two countries in addition to the regular exchange of delegations. Executive member Muhammad Azhar Chaudhary briefed about the proposed economic conference and said that being Muslim countries Pakistan and Malaysia should launch joint ventures for the production and export of Hilal products across the globe. Later Mr. Atif Munir Sheikh along with SVP Mr. Imran Mehmood Sheikh and VP Rana Fayyaz Ahmad presented FCCI shield to the Malaysian Charged Affairs Mr. Deddy Faisal Ahmad Salleh. Mr. Faisal and Mr. Naeem were also decorated with special FCCI collar pins.
Mr. Rashid Munir, Haji Abdul Rauf, Mian Abdul Waheed, Muhammad Tayyab, Muhammad Fazil, Rana Ikramullah, Malik Abdul Jabbar, Mr. Shakeel Ahmad Ansari and Mr. Sohail Butt also participated in this meeting.
