Govt vows to put economy on track

Assures businessmen of strengthening economic diplomacy

LAHORE:

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has called traders and business community the backbone of national economy and has assured them that the government will strengthen economic diplomacy to put the country’s economy back on track.

Talking to a delegation of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the foreign minister said that economic diplomacy was direly needed to shore up the
country’s economy.

He boasted that the country had made remarkable progress pertaining to exclusion from the grey list of the Financial Action Task
Force (FATF).

Pointing to his trips to different countries, Bilawal stressed that the visits were part of high-level exchanges between Pakistan and
those nations.

Emphasising the importance of Pakistan-China economic ties, he said that his visit to China would contribute to further fortifying the strategic cooperation and partnership between the two countries.

“It will also help enhance and deepen China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) related engagement and identify new avenues of bilateral cooperation for the benefit of the two countries and their people,” he added.

The LCCI delegation, led by its President Mian Nauman Kabir, expressed hope that the trips to Iran and China would definitely strengthen Pakistan’s trade and economic ties with
those countries.

It called for taking the chambers of commerce on board regarding trade and economic issues.

Furthermore, the businessmen suggested that for achieving a quantum jump in external trade, Pakistan’s trade officers posted in foreign missions should work hard and maintain close liaison with the
Foreign Office.

“Our moto should be trade, not aid,” the LCCI office-bearers said and added that if trade increased, Pakistan’s economy would get stronger.

They asked the foreign minister to restore flight operations to Europe and other parts of the world and urged him to play his role in getting market access for Pakistani products.

They pointed out that due to the lack of product diversification, Pakistan’s exports were heavily concentrated in textile, rice, leather and a few other sectors.

There was a need to diversify the export products by especially focusing on the value-added sectors like engineering, halal food, pharmaceutical, information technology and non-traditional sectors.

The businessmen demanded that the trade officers posted abroad should be directed to play a critical role in business matchmaking between Pakistan’s exporters and the potential buyers in their countries
of posting.

The LCCI delegation stressed the need for market diversification by exploring new export markets as about 65% of Pakistan’s exports went to just 10 countries.

“We have to take concrete steps to fetch better export revenues from the untapped, potential markets like Africa, Russia, South America and Central Asia,” they affirmed.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2022.

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