Trade: Britain sees fresh wave of investment in Pakistan

New British envoy meets key officials to boost trade ties.

LAHORE:

It seems that the new British High Commissioner, Philip Barton, is quite interested in giving trade ties between the United Kingdom (UK) and Pakistan due importance, apart from his other diplomatic responsibilities.

“Strengthening commercial trade between the two countries is my top priority, the premiers of both countries have already decided to boost bilateral trade to £3 billion by 2015,” Barton said while talking to a group of journalists. “Achieving this target is my personal priority,” he said.



Trade between the UK and Pakistan in 2012 was £2.1 billion. To boost this, the ambassador has started meeting officials of key government institutions.

For Barton, boosting bilateral trade and investment will revolve around three points. First, make British businesses aware of opportunities of doing business in Pakistan.

The hurdle, he said, to this particular point is the distorted picture of Pakistan portrayed in the UK in certain reports due to violence. Image-building will be of key importance as it will help bring more investment to the country.

Still, Barton thinks that the British businesses operating in Pakistan may be an encouraging factor for others to come.

“I see many successful British businesses in Karachi, other British companies can also have successful business in Pakistan, particularly in Punjab,” he said.



The second point he raised is the opportunity of increased access to European markets for Pakistan after the GSP Plus status. He was hopeful that this can also increase the level of trade between the UK and Pakistan.

“Pakistan should take maximum advantage of this status, many Pakistani textile businesses are expecting their orders in Europe to expand, which is good,” he added.

In his meeting earlier with officials of the Punjab Board of Investment and Trade, Barton backed the initiatives to develop partnership and a platform to share and develop a common knowledge base and to encourage exchange of trade and business-related information, and actively facilitate business-to-business linkages between interested parties.

The last point, according to Barton, includes efforts to work with government departments to minimise and clear hurdles which are often faced by the businessmen. “We will work with the government to knock down some of the barriers to trade,” he added.

He described Punjab as the heart of UK-Pakistan commercial relations, which provides a big exciting opportunity for the UK. Though it is hard for him to say exactly when fresh British investment will arrive, he hoped that in about a year Pakistan may hear a series of announcements from the investors.

Apart from UK-Pakistan commercial relations, Barton also suggested that India and Pakistan should work on their trade relations. He termed the level of trade between the two countries very low.

“We support India-Pakistan trade relations, both countries are huge markets. The level of trade should increase as there are huge opportunities for businesses to expand,” he remarked.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2014.

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