LAHORE: Ambassador of Pakistan to Azerbaijan Bilal Hayee visited the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Regional office Lahore and met with President FPCCI Irfan Iqbal Sheikh.

During the meeting, the matters of enhancing cooperation in diverse fields, including trade, investment, technology, and exchange of business delegations, were discussed.

Regional Chairman Muhammad Nadeem Qureshi, SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice President Mian Anjum Nisar and Vice President of FPCCI Riffat Malik were also present.

Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that Business-to-Business (B2B) and People-to-People (P2P) linkages, relations and joint activities ultimately translate into bilateral trade, investment and economic cooperation.

He said that Azerbaijan can benefit from Pakistan’s textiles, fruits, rice, surgical goods, pharmaceuticals and IT expertise at competitive rates.

He said that Azerbaijan and Pakistan enjoy excellent relations at the political level, but trade and economic relations are not up to the mark; therefore, there is a need to focus on promoting trade relations that would yield highly beneficial results for the economies of both countries.

Nadeem Qureshi thanked the Azerbaijan government for abolishing duties on Pakistani rice to facilitate the export of the commodity to the friendly country.

Bilal Hayee said that Azerbaijan has abolished the duty on importing rice from Pakistan; Azerbaijan is a large market for the export of Pakistan rice. Besides, pharmaceutical products have a lot of demand; Pakistani exporters should focus on these sectors and increase their exports to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is keen to promote bilateral trade with Pakistan as both countries have tremendous scope to enhance trade and economic cooperation in many fields, he added.

Bilal identified agriculture, industry, tourism, mining and hospitality as potential areas of bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and Pakistan. The ambassador said Pakistani pharmaceutical companies have immense potential.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023