The Spanish Ambassador Carlos Morales has said that Pakistan is very much on the world radar and a large number of leading business groups are looking it as an attractive business destination. Speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry here Monday, he said that Pakistan is a land of opportunities and misperception about its reputation at international level is not correct. Situation here at this resourceful country is not as bad as being portrayed and a number of Spanish companies are interested in starting their operations here.
Pakistan is a dynamic country which has a lot for the foreign investors. Spain is one of the largest economies and around 5000 Spanish companies are working in Latin America. Pakistan is a big market for EU investors, therefore, Spanish companies are diverting its attention towards Pakistan and it is high time that both the countries should take advantage of each other's expertise in various sectors, he said and urged the LCCI to take a business delegation to Spain so the Pakistani business community could assess the situation well. He said that there exists a great scope for cooperation in various industrial sectors between the two countries as well therefore the businessmen in the two countries could join hands for transfer of technology.
He said that energy, textiles, tourism, food products, agro-based products, Infrastructure and Spanish cellular technology are the potential areas where private sectors of the two countries could join hands for joint ventures. He said that Pakistan could learn a lot from Spain in tourism sector. He said that last year Spain earned $65 billion from 68 million tourists. LCCI Senior Vice President Almas Hyder said that Pakistan has favourable balance of trade with Spain and it is encouraging to see that in 2014, the level of two trade went as high as dollar 937 million. It was mainly achieved due to regular increase in Pakistan's exports to Spain.
The major exports of Pakistan to Spain include articles of apparel & clothing, bed linens, woven cotton fabrics, ethyl alcohol, rice and sports goods. Whereas medicament mixtures, ceramic tiles, zinc, cotton, olive oil, dyes & pigments, scrap of iron & steel are main imports of Pakistan from Spain.
Almas Hyder said that Pakistan is a land of opportunities for foreign investors and there is a great scope of cooperation in various industrial sectors between Pakistan and Spain. He said that the possibilities of undertaking joint ventures in areas like pharmaceuticals, electrical appliances, food items, engineering goods, agro-based products, mineral and mineral-based products and power generation sectors are very bright.
He said that Spain has the technology to construct dams and has constructed dams in Chile, Argentina and Brazil. Spain is also the biggest user of renewable sources of energy. "We invite Spanish businessmen to invest joint ventures with Pakistani entrepreneurs in these projects with transfer of technology."
He said that seed development is an area where Spain has specialised in and Pakistan being an agricultural country can benefit from the expertise of Spain in this field. Pakistan is an agro-based economy but unfortunately it does not have technology to preserve excess agriculture produce and in this regard, the professional expertise of Spain agro-based industrial sector will be welcomed, he said.
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