Being Muslim country Pakistan's acceptability in Bosnia & Herzegovina is very high and our exporters must exploit this brotherhood to have roots deep in this untapped and non-traditional market of Eastern Europe, said Lieutenant General Muhammad Yousuf (Retd) Pakistan Ambassador designate to Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Addressing the representatives of business and trade community at Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI), he said there is no apparent hurdle in the membership of Bosnia to European Union, however, during this interim period Pakistani exporters must establish their strong business links with their concerned counterparts in that country.
Yousuf said Pakistan and Bosnia have cordial relations since long. Pakistani government has always extended gracious help to the Bosnia despite of its own economic difficulties.
He said "our armed forces have played a commendable role during civil war in 1995-96 there. The refugees from that brother country were also brought to Pakistan and they stayed for long near Mansehra and later returned to their country after the restoration of peace. Similarly, Pakistan was the first country who sent relief goods to Bosnia during devastating floods in that country."
He said that Bosnia is comparatively a very small market. However, it could serve as a jumping pad to penetrate into other small states like Croatia, Alabama, Serbia and Slovenia. He quoted his meeting with Ambassador of Bosnia in Islamabad and said that he has pointed out three sectors in which Pakistan could increase its exports to Bosnia. Among these include textile, leather goods and construction materials. He said that as regards textile, Faisalabad could play a major role in exploiting the textile market of Bosnia.
He also assured to remove hurdles for the signing of Preferential Trade Agreement between Pakistan and Bosnia. He acknowledged the extraordinary capability of Pakistani entrepreneurs and said that they could do miracles if provided necessary support and facilities.
He also quoted a local rice mill and football industry of Sialkot, which are laudable examples of our exporters and industrialists. He asked President Chamber to provide him documentary on such leading industrial firms, which could provide basic information about Pakistani entrepreneurs to the Bosnian importers. He also welcomed a proposal of Chamber President Engr Suhail Bin Rashid for the vocational training of our youth and said that educated and skilled workforce can play a major role in improving the quality of our exportable surplus.
He also quoted a proposal of single country exhibition and assured to fully examine it. However, he was of the view that before holding any major promotional activity, he deemed it necessary that the business community of both the countries must have deep-rooted relations with each other.
Earlier, President FCCI in his welcome address said that Faisalabad is the second revenue generation city and third largest fast growing economy in the country after Karachi and Lahore. He said Pakistan's exports in 2013 to Bosnia were US $7.2 million while imports were US $0.2 million. He said that keeping in view the export volume of Pakistan and Bosnia with rest of the world, this trade volume is quite negligible.
He said with the massive changes in international trade, we should divert our attention towards untapped non-traditional markets. He said that Bosnian economy is transforming from highly centralised to private sector growth and it is good chance for Pakistani exporters to take benefit of the promising situation as Bosnia is situated in the heart of the Europe.
He proposed that skilled workforce can be exported to Bosnia for which he solicited the attention of the ambassador to let this Chamber informed of the need of the industrial and services sectors workforce in Bosnia. He proposed exchange of trade delegation, introducing trade products as Pakistani textiles, garments, sports goods, leather goods by way of organising single country exhibition.