Italy to deploy new economic missions in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Ambassador of Italy to Pakistan Andreas Ferrarese on Sunday said the new economic mission would be deployed in Pakistan to further promote bilateral trade and economic cooperation in different potential areas.

Initially the new economic mission would be established in major cities of Pakistan including Karachi and Islamabad and later it would be expanded to other potential trade hubs to increase the economic and trade integration between Pakistan and Italy, the Italian Ambassador to Pakistan Andreas Ferrarese told APP.

He said that there was huge trade potential in different sectors of economy which needed to be explored and in this regard both sides were engaged in the dialogue process through the Pak-Italy Joint Economic Commission was the forum for bilateral economic engagement and was expected to meet in Rome.

The Ambassador said that currently Italy was providing technical assistance in Agriculture and textiles upgradation through modern machinery, value addition in agriculture, leather and marble sectors.

He said Pakistan was working to expand it to Agricultural items including dairy and livestock, olives and olive products, plastics, processed food and construction sector in Italian market.

Replying to a question on trade Pakistan trade with European Union (EU) countries, he said out of its whole trade contribution to EU, Pakistan’s share with Italy was 10 percent which would be enhanced in future.

The ambassador acknowledged that Italy has become the largest contributor from the EU to Pakistan in remittances.

He underlined the importance of promoting cultural connectivity to promote bilateral trade.

He said that he would also encourage exchange of students to further strengthen bilateral relations.

The senior diplomat said that Italy was committed to extend the cooperation of a diverse potential sector to enhance the bilateral economic and cooperation between Pakistan and Italy.

Andreas Ferrarese was of the view that Italy wanted to start a new era of economic and trade cooperation with Pakistan through transfer of technology and for upgradation of Pakistan’s textile industry.

He said green economy, transfer of technology for industrial sector including textiles and agro industry, construction sector, education and health are major areas of focus to extend the bilateral cooperation.

The ambassador said through green economy, Italy wanted to cooperate with Pakistan for environment protection, circular economy,resource saving and management, ecosystem protection and recovery,water conservation and natural disaster prevention.

Replying to a question, he said Italy has established the Italy-Pakistan Textile Technology Center (IPTTC) in Faisalabad at the National Textile University (NTU) to upgrade the local textile sector.

He said the training centre, which was the first of its kind for Italian textile machinery technology in Pakistan, was inaugurated in the recent past.

He said this project was financed by the Italian government to support the development of the local textiles industry, by equipping it with Italian machinery.

During fiscal year 2019-20, textile, leather, rice, ethanol, textiles articles, sets, worn clothing, cotton, apparel, crocheted, cereals, raw hides and skins, beverages and footwear was major areas of Pakistan export to Italy, he said.

As Pakistan's imports from Italy increased in these sectors included ships, boats, and other floating structures, machinery, pharmaceutical products, aircraft, spacecraft, electrical, electronic equipment, organic chemicals, iron and steel, miscellaneous chemical products, optical, photo, technical and medical apparatus.

Replying to a question, he said currently, Italy was providing technical assistance to Pakistan in textiles, leather and marble sectors.

He informed that dairy and livestock, olive and olive products, plastics, processed food and the construction sector were the areas where Italy could extend its cooperation with Pakistan.