‘Commercial counsellor’, PCJCCI team discuss trade deficit issue

LAHORE: Ghulam Qadir, Commercial Counsellor of Pakistan designate to Beijing, China visited Pakistan-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) recently. The meeting was held which was attended by Wang Zihai, President PCJCCI, Ehsan Choudhry, Senior Vice President PCJCCI, Sarfaraz Butt, Vice President PCJCCI, Salahuddin Hanif, Secretary General PCJCCI. The executive committee members including S M Naveed, Daud Ahmed, Khalid Raffique Choudhry, Colonel Ashraf Rana, Zaki Aijaz, Muhammad Idrees and Jahangir Ahmed also attended the meeting

The main agenda of the meeting was to discuss that how to deal with the trade deficit and what measures should be taken to enhance import/export.

Ghulam Qadir, Commercial Counsellor designate to Beijing, China exchanged his views by saying that importers and exporters both are important when it comes to trade. We should come forward to implement a mechanism to enhance Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) because the GDP of Pakistan is low, the inflation rate is increasing day by day, and the exports have been decreased. He added that we need to diversify the main origins of FDI inflows with better economic diplomacy. He said that I am extremely grateful to PCJCCI for conducting such fruitful meeting before my visit to China, I will definitely address the queries of our business community and will try to resolve them.

Ehsan Choudhry, Senior Vice-President PCJCCI suggested establishing “Buying House” in Pakistan to increase import/export and provide maximum facilities to the business community. Pakistan government should establish sourcing parks or buying houses and ensure all amenities through a single-window facility, to make the country an attractive destination for sourcing by the international buyers. He added that in this way we can develop a long term quality oriented trade relations with China, Middle East and other countries.

Wang Zihai, President PCJCCI also joined the meeting through zoom and he said that we should take steps for attracting Chinese investment in various potential industrial sectors including furniture, handicrafts, textile, fertilizers, cement, glasswork energy and pharmaceuticals. He added that Chinese government has also allocated buying houses for Pakistan in China where they can present their products.

Sarfaraz Butt, Vice-President PCJCCI and Salahuddin Hanif, Secretary General thanked the Commercial Counselor for his precious time and said that we are endeavoring to build a better and prosperous future of Pakistan with the cooperation of China.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022