Improving trade and investment opportunities

The biennial commonwealth heads of government meeting has come to be seen as a worthless affair. Which is why this year's meeting in Perth deliberated on a 200-page report aimed at reform of the 54-member forum in order to make it relevant to a changing world. For Pakistan the meeting provided a particularly important opportunity. For the first time ever, Commonwealth Business Forum dedicated a special session to "Pakistan's Potential: Opportunities for Trade and Investment." A delegation of the captains of our business and industry led by the Trade Development Authority chief, Tariq Puri, participated in the session. In his keynote address, Puri told entrepreneurs and investors from several countries that Pakistan ranked at number 1 in the World Bank's 'Ease of Doing Business Index.' The TDA executive listed a number of areas where attractive investment opportunities existed, explaining that Pakistan is the world's second largest water buffalo meat and milk producer, 3rd largest cottonseed and chillies producer, 4th largest goat meat supplier, 5th largest mango producer, and 7th largest wheat grower. Puri also told his audience that Pakistan possesses the 5th largest coal reserves in the world and a wide-range of other natural resources. The advantages in exploiting such a vast potential for both foreign investors and the local economy would be obvious to the session's participants. Substantial opportunities exist in the trade sector as well. Pakistan's trade within the commonwealth countries is dismally below its potential. At present, it exports as many as 173 items to different commonwealth states, which buy 55 percent of similar items worth $1.18 trillion from within the forum's member countries. Pakistan's share in this trade is a mere 0.3 percent. It is not difficult to see some of the reasons that are adversely impacting our trade and investment prospects. Lack of effective marketing techniques and technologies are a problem. But equally, if not more, important issues pertain to quality control. There are several examples where foreign importers cancelled orders because the products failed to meet the required standards. The existing export mechanism needs to be reorganised in order to put an effective check on wrong practices. A major cause affecting the investment climate is the Afghan war blow-back-related violence, which discourages outsiders from wanting to do business with a country that is often dubbed as 'the most dangerous place in the world.' The government needs to play a proactive role to dispel that impression. Notably, after the business forum meeting, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani held a lengthy discussion with Pakistani business leaders accompanying him. He apprised them of some initiatives his government is undertaking to have a liberal trade regime with neighbouring countries, and also to reach out deeper into Central Asian Republics and the region beyond. A similar discussion by the prime minister at the business forum would have been helpful in allaying some of the apprehensions of foreign participants. Copyright Business Recorder, 2011