Bulgarian envoy stresses enhancing two-way trade

Highlights it can be achieved through economic diplomacy

KARACHI:

The Covid-19 pandemic created a lot of challenges during the past two years but now it is time to focus on the exchange of trade delegations between Pakistan and Bulgaria to lift the trade volume, said Ambassador of Bulgaria Irena Gancheva.

Speaking to business community at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Tuesday, she regretted that physical exchange of delegations had not been possible for the past few years due to the pandemic.

“The third session of the Joint Economic Commission between Bulgaria and Pakistan was supposed to take place in Sofia in 2020-21, however, it could not be held due to the malady,” she said.

“We are making efforts to organise this important session later in the ongoing year or next year.”

She invited representatives of the Karachi Chamber to visit Bulgaria alongside government officials during the meeting of the Joint Economic Commission.

According to her, it will help develop and strengthen trade and economic cooperation between the two nations.

The exchange of government and business delegations would add a good momentum and create opportunities for the two countries to sit together and discuss specific areas for bilateral cooperation.

Touching upon some important areas of trade cooperation, she mentioned that agriculture, dairy products and IT were the prospective fields for collaboration.

“There is a huge potential to enhance trade cooperation through economic diplomacy,” she stressed.

The Bulgarian envoy promised full support and cooperation to the KCCI in improving ties with the institutions in Bulgaria including Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency and others.

Speaking on the occasion, KCCI President Muhammad Idrees stressed that Pakistan and Bulgaria needed to work together to improve bilateral trade, which was quite low.

Citing figures, he said that Pakistan shipped goods worth $35.62 million to Bulgaria in 2020 whereas imports from Bulgaria stood at $27.86 million. “The two countries can enhance trade in a number of commodities.”

He mentioned that in 2020 Bulgaria imported $165.17 million worth of copper-related articles in the form of cathodes and billets from several countries including Austria, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey.

During the same year, Pakistan exported the same commodity valuing at $321.39 million mainly to China and Belgium.

He regretted that Pakistan and Bulgaria were not trading that particular commodity.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2022.

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