Malaysian CG's role in Pakistan image building appreciated

Departing Consul General of Malaysia, Mohammad Khalid Abdur Razzaq, has advised business communities of both Malaysia and Pakistan to frequently visit each others countries to develop person-to- person contacts which is prerequisite to boosting two-way trades.
Speaking at the meeting of Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) on Tuesday, he pointed out that two-way trade was around 1.8 billion dollars when he took charge as consul general around three years and three months ago. Expressing concern over low volume of trade, he said that the bilateral trade between the two nations should be at least 5 billion dollars.
He said, out of total trade Pakistan imports were of 1.7 billion dollars from Malaysia whereas Pakistan exports to Malaysia account for 100 million dollars. The big trade gap was due to bulk import of palm oil from Malaysia. During last three years two-way trade increased to 2.5 billion dollars out of which Pakistan exports come to 250 million dollars.
He said that Pakistan is the second largest importer of palm oil. China is number one and India is third largest importer. The CG further said that he tried his best to explore Malaysian market for Pakistan's products especially in textiles, rice, frozen seafood, etc, and now it was up to Pakistan's exporters to fully exploit the opportunities. He stressed that Malaysia is a potential market for Pakistan's basmati and IRRI rice.
He said that Malaysia is likely to invest in Pakistan to the tune of 1.5 billion dollars by next year Former president FPCCI, S M Muneer, expressed his profound gratitude to the services of departing Consul General of Malaysia and said that Khalid not only served his nation but Pakistan as well during his three years and three months' tenure in Karachi. He said that Khalid tried to portray soft image of Pakistan especially of Karachi abroad The Chairman, KATI, Syed Johar Ali Qandhari, in his welcome address paid glowing tributes to the departing diplomat for his services for boosting the two-way trade.
He said that KATI too had sent a delegation to Malaysia for trade development but this effort isn't sufficient and more exchanges of delegations has become need of the hour. KATI's Chairman Standing Committee on Diplomatic Affairs, Masood Naqi, while paying tributes to Khalid said that he bridged the gap between entrepreneurs of the two countries. Former Chairman, Mian Zahid Hussain, Vice Chairman, Shahid Javed Qureshi and Saleem-uz-Zaman also spoke on the occasion.