Pakistan's High Commissioner in Malaysia Masood Khalid giving details of the bilateral trade Monday said since the signing of FTA between Pakistan and Malaysia in 2007, the bilateral trade was following an upward trajectory, said a press release received here on Monday.
According to latest date released by Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) Malaysia, the bilateral trade which stood at US$ 1.362 billion in 2007 has increased to US$ 2.5 billion in 2010.
The High Commissioner said the balance of trade is heavily tilted in favour of Malaysia which needs to be narrowed by including non traditional items in the bilateral trade like marble and granite, gem and jewellery, fruits and vegetable, surgical, cutlery and sports goods, spices, leather, handicrafts, pharmaceutical products, readymade garments and meat products.
He suggested that Malaysian side may send a trade delegation to Pakistan for identifying specific products for import by Malaysia.
He said Pakistan High Commission is pursuing a number steps to increase the exports from Pakistan to Malaysia.
Recently, import of beef from Pakistan had started which was now available throughout Malaysia.
"Meanwhile, Nili Ravi buffalo of Pakistan has been exported to Malaysia to help pilot breeding project and efforts are underway to export Pakistani Mangoes to ensure their availability throughout Malaysia", he added.
The High Commissioner said as an endeavour to bring private sectors of the two countries closer to each other and to forge cooperation between the two countries in different areas Board Of Investment (BOI) of Pakistan and Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) had jointly organised a one day seminar in Kuala Lumpur recently.
He said a number of MoUs and agreements have been signed between the two countries to forge meaningful and result oriented cooperation in agriculture, halal sector, higher education as well as in the field of transportation besides Pakistan-Malaysia Joint Business Council had also been launched to promote interaction between the private sectors of two countries.
According to data the exports of Pakistani rice to Malaysia had registered an increase of 124.80pc in 2010 with export of RM 198.62 million as against RM 88.3 million of last year.
The cotton yarn registered an increase of 66.21pc with an export of RM 37.87 million in 2010 compared to RM 22.78 million last year. Bed linen registered an unprecedented increase of 77.33pc with an export of RM 3.42 million compared to RM 1.93 million last year.
However, the exports which remained into the negative zone were fish, onion, maize, woven fabrics and synthetic staple fiber, electronic appliances, line telephony, part and accessories.
On the Malaysian side, the biggest increase in export to Pakistan was recorded in Palm Oil which registered 45.14pc increase; natural rubber registered an increase of 40.57pc; fiber board wood registered an increase of 18.46pc whereas the items which remained in the negative zone were insecticides, synthetic yarn and automatic data processing machine, etc.