Europe to be largest market for Pakistan’s textiles

Envoy says despite Pakistan’s tilt towards China, Nordic companies keen to invest

LAHORE: In encouraging remarks for the perturbed exporters, Honorary Consul General of Pakistan for Finland Wille Eerola has emphasised that the European bloc will remain the biggest export market for the country’s textile sector in coming years despite a huge influx of Chinese investment in the South Asian nation.

Referring to ongoing developments under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said the project would definitely change the country’s landscape and bring both countries (China and Pakistan) more closer.



However, textile lobbies should be aware that China itself was a big exporter of raw textile products.

“Europe will be the biggest market for Pakistan’s textile products in the future, however, Pakistan should also focus on other export products to increase its share in the European market and reduce dependence on textiles,” Eerola said in an interview with The Express Tribune.

For him, Pakistan is full of opportunities, especially for Nordic companies, but the country needs to improve its image at the international level.



“There is a lot of negative news being aired on international media and this is the biggest hurdle in the way of motivating Nordic companies to look for opportunities in Pakistan,” he said, adding to encourage investors they had to be brought to Pakistan so they could see true picture of the country.

Eerola, who also chairs the Nordic-Pakistan Business Summit, said he had already managed to bring many Nordic investors to Pakistan and around 80 companies were interested in pouring capital into the country.

Bilateral trade between the EU and Pakistan stood at €10.5 billion in 2015. However, trade between Pakistan and the seven Nordic countries remained at around €150 million. “The first target should be to at least triple the trade figure in coming years,” he said.



“Pakistan should focus on other products like surgical and food-related items in order to ramp up its export revenue in the Nordic region; it is time that Pakistan’s exporters look out of the box,” he suggested.

Talking about CPEC, he said though Chinese companies were dominating the project, Nordic companies still had several opportunities to tap. “CPEC is bringing China and Pakistan closer but there is always room for European companies to play their role,” he said.

“However, Nordic companies are not in a position to execute any project alone in Pakistan as it is hard for any foreign company to understand the exact ground realities.”

He believed that such projects could only be undertaken via joint ventures with local counterparts, as foreign companies would help in bringing investments, technology and expertise. However, Pakistani companies right now were more inclined towards China.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2016.

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