‘Pakistan has potential to enhance exports to UK to £5bn in FY22’

KARACHI: Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, President FPCCI has said that Pakistan has the potential to enhance its exports to UK to £ 5 billion from the current £ 1.9 billion in FY22 within five years as a number of factors are in Pakistan’s favor, namely, but not limited to huge South Asian diaspora in UK, competitively-priced products vis-a-vis UK, existing upward trend in bilateral trade surplus, upsurge in people-to-people, business-to-business and chamber-to-chamber linkages over the last many months, i.e. post-Covid, increase in demand or inquiries for imports from Pakistan in various sectors, e.g. IT services, value-added textiles, leather products; sports goods, fruits and vegetables and gems, jewelry and artifacts.

Moazzam Ahmed Khan, Pakistani High Commissioner in UK while speaking onthe occasion of a high-profile meeting with the FPCCI delegation at Pakistani High Commission in London has said that visa facilitation for the business communities of both countries holds the key to better networking, trade visits and exhibitions and both the governments should work together to ease the visa processing requirements and processing time.

It is pertinent to note here that with the facilitation of Pakistani Consulate in London, FPCCI official delegation led by its Senior Vice-President, Suleman Chawla is visiting various parts of UK for trade promotion and MoUs, B2B networking and devising facilitative mechanisms between FPCCI and various large UK chambers of commerce.

Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo, immediate past president FPCCI, who is also accompanying the delegation, apprised the counterpart chambers that importing from Pakistan provides a win-win proposition as Pakistani textiles, leather, IT, sports, surgical and foods products have become very competitive due to the depreciating currency; upsurge in production; import of new machinery and improved awareness on international standards, certifications & accreditations.

Imran Khalil Naseer, Chairman of FPCCI’s Pak-UK Business Council, expressed his desire to foster strategic partnerships with Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) through Greater Manchester Chambers of Commerce (GMCC), especially in financial services, creative and innovation sectors between businesses operating within the Greater Manchester region and Pakistan. He also invited mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham and his team to visit Pakistan along with business community representatives to collaborate with Pakistani counterparts.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022