Bilateral ties: Malaysian envoy asks businessmen to do more

LCCI official says free trade deal has not proved useful for two sides

LAHORE: Malaysia and Pakistan are potential markets and there is a lot of scope for enhanced two-way trade, said Malaysian High Commissioner Dr Hasrul Sani Mujtabar while talking to Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Senior Vice President Almas Hyder and Vice President Nasir Syed.

“Pakistani businessmen should be more aggressive in terms of business activities in Malaysia to compete with other markets in this era of globalisation,” he said and advised the business community to actively participate in international conventions scheduled to be held in Malaysia in coming months.

“Malaysia has set a unique benchmark by successfully launching its own model of modernisation with indigenisation,” LCCI Senior VP Almas Hyder said, adding Malaysia’s strong technological base was the result of enhanced quality of technical and vocational education.

“We must avail themselves of the opportunities of knowledge-sharing and streamlining our education system with the help of Malaysian experts,” he added.

Hyder said Pakistan and Malaysia were members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Commonwealth and both countries had been maintaining excellent diplomatic relations since 1957.

“Malaysia has achieved remarkable growth in almost all fields of life and has become a role model for many Islamic countries to follow.”

Talking about bilateral trade, Hyder said Malaysia and Pakistan signed a free trade agreement (FTA) in January 2008 but it had yet to prove useful for both the countries.

“The platform must be utilised for a win-win situation. We need to take immediate steps to regain that level of bilateral trade which went as high as $2.97 billion in 2011.”

In 2014, bilateral trade dipped to $1.51 billion from $2.12 billion in 2013. The balance of trade has been in favour of Malaysia, but over the last five years the gap is constantly narrowing.

According to Hyder, a drastic decrease in the import of palm oil from Malaysia amounting to $0.5 billion from $2.12 billion in 2011 is the main reason behind the decline in trade.

“Pakistan’s exports to Malaysia had been in the range of $200-240 million during 2011 to 2014. There must be some advantage given to Pakistan of the FTA.” He urged the Malaysian High Commission to play an active role in encouraging investors to consider Pakistan as a safe destination for investment and promoting joint ventures.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th,  2016.

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