Surgical, sports goods: Sialkot businessmen invited to explore Indonesian market: envoy

Indonesian Ambassador in Pakistan Ishak Latuconsina has stressed upon the business community of Sialkot to explore the Indonesian market for surgical equipment and sports goods because the rising demand of sports equipment provides vast opportunities for Pakistani firms to benefit from the lucrative market of Indonesia.
Addressing members of Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) here on Saturday, he said that economic ties and bilateral co-operation between Indonesia and Pakistan have been increased significantly during the recent years. There is a new wave of interest in the business communities of the two countries to explore new lines of business and to establish long-term trade relations, he said.
He said: "The importance of Sialkot is manifold since it is the second largest source of foreign exchange earning through its exports and also playing a key role in economy of Pakistan with its modern industrial infrastructure and skilful workers." The Ambassador said that his aim of visiting Sialkot Chamber was to find out ways and means to enhance bilateral co-operation to raise the trade volume between the two brotherly countries.
He said that it was a very positive sign that by every passing year the participation of companies from Pakistan was increasing in the trade expo in Indonesia. He said that total export value from Pakistan to Indonesia during July 2009 to June 2010 increased by 33 percent from $48.63 million in 2008-09 to $72.67 million in the fiscal period of 2009-10.
"This trend shows that there is great potential for the Pakistani traders to increase their exports with Indonesia in future, especially in textile and surgical instruments," he added. The Ambassador said that there was a significant increase in the visits of Pakistani businessmen to Indonesia, especially from Sialkot, which was also a highly encouraging factor to help promotes-trade activities.
He stressed upon the business community of Pakistan that they should participate in upcoming Indonesian trade exhibitions, and added that these events would provide good opportunities to Pakistani businessmen to examine the growing corporate sector of Indonesia and establish more productive partnership with their counterparts.
Ishak said that Pakistani products have a good market in Indonesia and the business prospects were bright for the two-way trade and collaboration. He added that Indonesia would continue to provide an attractive business environment for Pakistani companies to invest in all sectors. There was a need of frequent exchange of trade delegations and free flow of trade related information between the two countries, he said.
In his address of welcome, President of Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), Ghulam Mustafa, said that collective efforts at this juncture were direly needed for further boosting and strengthening trade relations between the two brotherly countries.
He said that duty on import of textile garments and sports goods is 15 percent which is higher than European countries, and added that concerned authorities in Indonesia should reduce tariff rate on import of textile garments and sports goods from Pakistan to promote bilateral trade.