Spain keen to expand bilateral ties with Pakistan

Spanish official stresses diversifying exports by exploiting opportunities in other fields

RAWALPINDI: Spain is ready to cooperate with Pakistan in expanding their bilateral trade with a focused approach on food processing and tourism development, said Economic and Commercial Attaché of Spain Miguel Pena. Addressing members of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) on Tuesday, he said Spain has made tremendous progress in the industrial sector, while 90 million tourists visited Spain last year.

The private sector of Pakistan should avail the expertise and experience of Spain in these sectors, he added. The official said.



Pakistan could export a variety of different products to Spain and other European Union (EU) countries, but the main emphasis of Pakistan remained on the textile. Pena said that Pakistan should diversify its export by exploiting opportunities available in other fields as well. He stressed the need for business to business (B2B) linkages between the private sectors of two countries and hoped that the Spanish embassy will remain in touch with R&D Directorate of FCCI for the exchange of current business trends, prevailing in the two countries.

Expressing his satisfaction over the bilateral trade of the two countries, FCCI President Syed Zia Alamdar Hussain said Faisalabad is the third major city of Pakistan, which is contributing 55% towards textile and 30% towards total export of Pakistan. He said Pakistanis settled in Spain should also play their role in the technology transfer to Pakistan.



The FCCI president said the volume of bilateral trade stood at $1.11 billion in 2017, of which Pakistanis made $904.52 million export, while imports from Spain were only $208.5 million. Thus the balance of trade remained in favour of Pakistan, he added. He said Spain has developed latest technology for value addition and Pakistan must take advantage of this technology to promote value addition in the country.