Reliable partners needed to promote Pak-Thai trade ties: TPCC

President of Thai-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce (TPCC), Firdos Ali has proposed that Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and TPCC should exchange information about reliability of Pakistani and Thai businessman, respectively, because this practice can ensure successful deals between business communities of the two countries, and help in building confidence, reputation and the image of Pakistan.
"Thai businessmen have been facing immense problems in identifying the right partners for business in Pakistan and the same must also be happening to those Pakistani businessmen willing to enhance trade with Thai business community," Firdos said, speaking at a meeting of the KCCI. He further said that it had been observed in numerous cases that business deals remained unsuccessful and Thai businessmen were 'robbed' by some unscrupulous elements. Therefore, he proposed, in order to effectively deal with this issue, close collaboration between TPCC and KCCI is a must.
He underscored the need to initiate a strong liaison between the Karachi KCCI and TPCC to assist the business communities of both countries in finding the right and reliable partners for business. On Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the TPCC president said, Thai business community anxiously awaits signing of FTA between Pakistan and Thailand since long. He was optimistic that the much-awaited FTA would be inked in the next four to five months which would prove beneficial for both sides.
He said that TPCC was formed in 2005 and comprised of business community members of Pakistani-origin who had been living and successfully doing business in Thailand. As compared to KCCI, TPCC is a small chamber but it enjoys close liaison with all other Chambers in Thailand and efforts are being made to encourage Thai businessmen to become TPCC members which can be approached for any kind of assistance. He said that TPCC was also a member of Joint Foreign Chamber of Commerce in Thailand (JFCCT) which comprised of representatives from Chambers of Commerce around the world including UK, India, Sri Lanka, Canada and Japan, etc. He advised KCCI to become member of JFCCT where business community representatives from some of the important markets gather to discuss matters of mutual interest.
He asked KCCI to arrange their delegation's visit to Thailand which would be fully assisted by TPCC in order to make the visit successful and result-oriented.
The KCCI president KCCI, Muffasar Atta Malik assured that KCCI would look into the possibility of sharing information about credible businessmen and industrialists with TPCC in order to ensure prosperous businesses and growth in trade relations between the two countries. "In this regard, KCCI has inked many MoUs with Chambers of Commerce around the world and we will look into the possibility of having a similar MoU with TPCC as well, which will help in finding the right business partners," he said.
Malik said that Pakistan's perception was terribly tarnished in the past mainly due to negative reporting by the western media but now as the situation has radically improved, there is a dire need to project the improved security situation across Pakistan in order to clarify numerous misconceptions.
He was of the view that this was the right time to invest in Pakistan, particularly Karachi as the country is going to witness substantial economic growth in the next five to ten years due to unlimited opportunities emerging out of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project. CPEC's first phase comprising construction of roads and electricity supply will be completed by June 2018 which will be followed by construction of 9 Special Economic Zones (Two in each province and one in Gilgit-Baltistan). Two of these SEZs will be established in Karachi where Thai business and industrial community can set up their business either exclusively or through joint ventures with their counterparts in Pakistan, he said.
The KCCI president said that great potential existed to enhance bilateral trade, investment and cooperation between Pakistan and Thailand. The signing of FTA would certainly yield good result by enhancing Pak-Thai trade volume from the existing $1 billion to $2 billion within the span of next five years. He said that culture, infrastructure development, science and technology, defense, education and tourism are other sectors where the two countries could benefit from each other.
He invited Thai business community to participate in the 15th My Karachi Exhibition and asked the TPCC president to extend support and cooperation towards promoting KCCI's Exhibition to be held in April next year which would provide a perfect platform to Thai businessmen and industrialists to showcase their products and services in front of more than 1 million visitors of the exhibition.