LAHORE: Pakistani entrepreneurs are invited to start joint ventures with their Portuguese counterparts in the sectors of textile, food, rice, information technology, sports goods and agriculture that would be equally beneficial for the both countries.
The invitation was extended by the Charge De Affairs of Portugal Joao Paulo Sabido while talking to the LCCI Senior Vice President Almas Hyder and Vice President Nasir Saeed here at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry. President Pakistan Portugal Business Council Awais and LCCI Executive Committee Members were also present on the occasion.
Joao Paulo Sabido said that there is a huge scope for the expansion of two-way trade between Portugal and Pakistan as both countries. He said that Pakistani entrepreneurs should focus on Portugal to exploit the untapped market potential for all the traditional and non-traditional products.
He highly appreciated the comparative prices, quality and standards of Pakistan-made products especially textile, rice and sports goods. While stressing the need for exchange of trade delegation and chamber-to-chamber contacts, he said that Pakistani trade delegations would have extremely favourable response towards Pakistani products as both countries have longstanding cordial relations.
He said that Portugal is one of the largest users of yarn therefore Pakistan should avail this opportunity to the maximum. He said that Portugal is generating most of energy through renewable/wind energy, Pakistan could learn a lot from Portuguese expertise in this regard.
The LCCI Senior Vice President Almas Hyder said that Pakistani businessmen are eager to develop close working relations with the Embassy of Portugal. He said that Pakistan and Portugal enjoy good diplomatic relations. Portugal comes at 8th place among the top exporting destinations and at 12th place among the top importing member states of European Union.
He said that although Pakistan is having favourable balance of trade with Portugal and overall trade is also growing for the last three years in particular but its level need to be enhanced.
The LCCI Senior Vice President said that said that in 2012, the total worth of Pakistan’s exports to Portugal was dollar 109 million which increased to dollar 155 million in 2013 and dollar 167 million in 2014. There was almost same trend noticed in imports from Portugal to Pakistan. In 2013, the value of imports was dollar 13 million that slightly increased to dollar 19.2 million in 2014.
The LCCI Vice President Nasir Saeed said that Textile items are mostly exported from Pakistan to Portugal followed by manmade staple fibres and raw hides and skins. We need to identify more tradable items to enhance the current level of trade. He said that Pakistan has sufficient capacity to export various food items and consumer goods like agriculture and dairy products, sports goods, surgical instruments, leather and leather products etc.
Nasir Saeed said that through exchanging timely information about trade and business opportunities, noticeable change could be brought in current state of affairs. He said that B-2-B and Chamber-2-Chamber contacts are a must to find ways of building strong trade ties between Pakistan and Portugal.
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