Pakistan on Thursday hoped to up its bilateral trade with the Asean countries to $1 billion each, after Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore agreed to move forward towards concluding an agreement on Free Trade Agreement. "The FTA will provide necessary framework to boost trade and bring Pakistan closer to Asean," Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told newsmen soon after taking off from Singapore. Pakistan is looking forward to concluding FTA's with these countries with the provision for an early harvest arrangement, covering major commodities.
Shaukat, who held extensive talks with his counterparts in Malaysia, Brunei Thailand and Singapore on defence, security, trade and investment opportunities, said there was a mutual understanding to enhance bilateral relations, people-to-people contacts and frequency of flights for increased interaction with Asean nations.
The Prime Minister sought support from the member states to attain the status of a full dialogue partner with Asean.
Shaukat said Pakistan was able to win support for the country to get this status and was hopeful that the interaction would take Pakistan to the summit level.
"We have agreed to maintain frequent contacts at the summit and official levels, to increase our defence contacts and to further strengthen our co-operation in counter-terrorism," he said.
He said the visit contributed in building country's image abroad and would play a crucial role in enhancing trade and strengthening economic ties. Pakistan projected itself as an attractive partner for trade and investment, he said.
The prime minister said that he informed the countries about Pakistan's economic progress and the stability it achieved by comprehensive structural reforms. He said the leaders of the four countries acknowledged the success an assured to study investment opportunities in Pakistan.
He said Singapore and Malaysia, particularly evinced keen interest in the natural gas pipeline projects from Iran, Turkmenistan and Qatar.
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