Pak-Bahrain trade volume surges by 400pc in FY22: FPCCI chief

KARACHI: Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, President FPCCI, has apprised that bilateral trade volume in FY22 has surged by almost 400% with Bahrain as compared to FY20 as it was recorded at $ 595.12 million in FY22; whereas it was $ 119.95 million in FY20 – however, the bilateral trade balance is in Bahrain’s favor.

It is pertinent to note that Pakistan’s Ambassador-Designate to Bahrain, Saqib Rauf, visited FPCCI to take business community onboard vis-a-vis enhancement of trade and economic relations between the two countries; and, help Pakistani exporters to tap into new product categories.

Irfan Iqbal Sheikh added that Pakistan possesses considerable potential for exports to Bahrain; and, the potential for key commodities includes plastics and articles ($ 418.43 million), pharmaceutical products ($ 313.33 million), optical and photographic instruments ($ 220.024 million), furniture ($ 190.87 million), edible fruits & nuts ($ 189.17 million) and salt, Sulphur, earth and stone ($ 159.33 million).

Shabbir Mansha, VP FPCCI, stressed that the ambassador-designate should strive to make more jobs available for Pakistani skilled and semi-skilled workers as we have abundant human resources pool available on the back of our thriving young population.

He added that Pakistan is suffering on account of Pakistani products being sold in GCC and other countries after getting rebranded with a third country name; and, the phenomenon is making the Pakistani exporters earn much lesser than the ones who simply rebrand Pakistani products and sell with their names.

Shaukat Omerson, VP FPCCI, proposed to the ambassador-designate that he can help the business community by the means of getting data of the top 20 products that Bahrain imports the most; so that, Pakistan can target those specific products to enhance its exports to Bahrain. He also called for establishing strong ties between FPCCI and Bahrain Chamber.

Sahibzadi Maheen Khan, Convener of FPCCI’s Central Standing Committee on Diplomatic Affairs, appreciated the fact that a career-diplomat with proven track-record has been chosen to represent Pakistan in the friendly country of Bahrain.

She was of the view that human resource in creative fields should be enabled to work for Bahrain as there is a strong demand for them in Bahrain; and, as a matter of fact, Pakistani workers would be way less expensive than others.

Saquib Rauf, Pakistan’s Ambassador-designate to Bahrain, maintained that there are a lot of MoUs and other trade promotion agreements of Pakistan with other countries; however, many remain unfulfilled and therefore he has come to the business community to take stock of the real issues and ground realities.

He took special interest in promoting IT exports to Bahrain and organizing visits of businessmen from Bahrain to Pakistan to help them explore investment opportunities and establish B2B linkages.

We need to boost our exports; remittances and FDI to help cope with the economic challenges, he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023