Australia to help Pakistan overcome challenges: HC

The Australian High Commissioner Tim George has said that Australia has a long-term commitment with Pakistan and is ready to play a proactive role so that Pakistan could be able to overcome the challenges being faced by it. He, however, made it clear that both Pakistan and Australia need to work more closely in Agriculture, Energy, Education, Engineering and social sector. He was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Thursday.
The High Commissioner said that power generation, agriculture, livestock, sports goods, information technology, health and education are the key sectors wherein Pakistani businessmen can take advantage of Australian technological advancements to play their role for economic turnaround of the country. The diplomat said that Pakistan could avail Australian expertise in vocational training, as Australian Vocational Training Modules are best of the best in the world.
He also called for frequent exchange of business-related delegations so that both the sides could have first-hand knowledge of the available opportunities. He said that Pakistani goods were best of the best in the world and have very huge potential in Australian market. Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI President Shahzad Ali Malik said that with extensive natural resources, including oil and natural gas reserves, the fourth-largest coal reserves in the world and potential for hydropower, Pakistan offers marvellous opportunities to Australian businessmen.
Malik said that there are prospects for growth in trade and investment particularly in the field of agribusiness, education, mining for oil and gas exploration, IT & Communications and development of processed foods. He said that Pakistan was an agro-based economy but unfortunately, most of excessive agriculture produce wasted due lack of post harvest technology. He said that Pakistan was striving hard to strengthen its agro-based and dairy industry. He said that in this regard, the professional expertise of Australian agro-based industrial sector could be very helpful. He said that there is a vast scope of investment in horticulture, cattle and sheep breeding, processing, canning, packing, and preservation of fresh fruits and vegetables.
The LCCI President said that the investment opportunities for Australian investors were reflected in the fact that Pakistan is a very huge market having a population of about 170 million. He said that highly skilled and disciplined labour force was estimated at more than 50 million. There is a large corps of professional managers, engineers, computer scientists and bankers.
He said that business houses like LCCI and Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Australia could also play a vital role to enhance the trade ties between the two countries. Trade fairs, single country exhibitions as well as exclusive "country weeks" could be arranged on reciprocal basis to achieve this goal. Major Australian exports to Pakistan are fertilisers, mineral fuels, oil seed, fruit and vegetables, iron and steel, paper and paperboard. Major Pakistani exports to Australia include textiles, cereals, cotton, leather goods, carpets, and sports goods.
The total bilateral trade in 2007 was $552.6 million, which went up to $625.4 million in 2008 and following the increasing trend it reached US $653 million in 2009. It has been encouraging to observe upward tendency in total trade but our main concern is inconsistent level of exports from Pakistan. Pakistan exports were worth $125 million in 2007, which showed improvement in 2008 by touching $141 million mark but very next year it went way down to $118.3 million.
From Australia, Pakistan mainly imports fertilizers, mineral fuels, oil seed, grain, fruits, vegetables, iron and steel, paper & paperboard and articles of pulp etc. Whereas our exports to Australia consist of textile articles, cereals, cotton, articles of apparel, articles of leather, animal gut, travel goods and optical, photo and medical apparatus etc.
LCCI Senior Vice President Sheikh Mohammad Arshad, Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner (South Asia) Peter Linford, First Secretary Jon Bonner, Regional Director Western Australian Trade Office Pankaj Savara, Country Manager Azhar H Shah and Tahir Mehmood, Agribusiness South Asia also spoke on the occasion.