KARACHI: President of FPCCI Irfan Iqbal Sheikh has pointed out that the 25-country trade alliance of Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce & Industry (CACCI) is collectively a huge market for Pakistani exports – be it trade in goods, export of services or export of human resources.

He was speaking on the occasion of 36th CACCI Conference in Melbourne, Australia.

Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that the enormity of export potential lies in the fact that one billion people are in the workforce of these 25 countries and have a very vibrant middle-class, which is the true engine of consumption through their purchasing power.

Working class, in turn, derives the demand for imports; and, “we should study and explore the untapped potential in both conventional and unconventional sectors”.

The FPCCI chief felicitated the newly-elected President of CACCI, Peter McMullin; who is also a former President of Victorian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (VCCI), Australia. He added that he is hopeful to exchange bilateral and multilateral trade delegations with CACCI member states in the near future as Pakistan will able to play a more proactive role; since Khurram Tariq Sayeed, who is also a former VP FPCCI, has been elected Vice President of CACCI.

Irfan explained that trade is the most vital missing component of Pakistan’s GDP growth as 30 percent of world’s GDP is based on trade; and, it takes all the more importance in our peculiar case as we import more than double what we export. On top of that, we have not been able to stabilize Pak Rupee; and, this double whammy has broken all records of inflation in Pakistan.

President FPCCI highlighted that global trade volume during Covid-19 pandemic suffered animmensedebility from $49 trillion to $44 trillion; nonetheless, the post-Covid trade and industry have managed to enhance the trade volumes substantially to reach $55 trillion – and, FPCCI is ever-willing to support the business, industry and trade community to earn Pakistan’s rightful share in global trade.

It is pertinent to note that Asia-Pacific is a huge, diverse, fast-developing, dynamic and geographically vast set of regions; including, East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Islands.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022