GSP Plus status a good decision: Dutch envoy

Businessmen ask the Netherlands to open commercial office in Multan.

MULTAN: The Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) Plus status, which provides preferential market access for exporters, has proved to be a good decision on the part of the European Union, stated Dutch Ambassador Marcel de Vink while speaking to executive committee members of the Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI).

He believed that Pakistan had a great potential for trade considering a 24% increase in exports to the Netherlands in the last six months and shipments worth $1 billion to Europe in nine months due to the GSP Plus status.

Earlier, in his welcome address, MCCI President Mian Iqbal Hassan said that Europe was Pakistan’s major trade partner with 16% of exports going to European markets.

Last year, Pakistan had $10.86 billion worth of trade with EU countries with a surplus of over $1.7 billion.

Trade with the Netherlands was valued at $177.53 million in 2010, while in 2012, exports rose to $202 million while imports stood at $165 million.

From January to December 2014, the exports further increased to $513.5 million. The trade volume is likely to mount to $800 million this year.

Hassan asked the Netherlands embassy to establish a commercial office in Multan, which would be welcomed by the industrialists and exporters. The value of traditional trade could be increased by encouraging closer linkages between the entrepreneurs in both countries, particularly through joint ventures, he suggested.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2015.

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