FAISALABAD: Engineer Muhammad Saeed Sheikh President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) has stressed the need for frequent exchange of trade delegations direct between Faisalabad and Italy to give a quantum jump to the bilateral trade between the two countries.
He was talking to A. R. Daudpota, Deputy Trade Commissioner of Italian Trade Agency in FCCI here today.
Engineer Saeed Sheikh said that textile is the mainstay of national economy. Out of total 13 billion dollar textile exports, the share of Faisalabad is around 6 billion dollars. He termed Faisalabad as the focal point of industrial, economic and business activities and said that in the fast changing economic scenario its importance has been further increased. He said that being situated in the heart of Pakistan geographically it is the best location for safe investment particularly in export oriented projects. Due to its excellent connectivity with China, Central Asia and seaports of Karachi and Gawadar, many foreign investors are already planning to set up their units in Faisalabad. He said that foreign trade delegations must visit Faisalabad so that they could have direct access to the relevant person of their sector. It is not only important for Italy but also yield due benefits to the Pakistani business community, he added.
He said that Italy is major trading partner of Pakistan which is also third largest export destination of Pakistan within the European Union. He further said that bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Italy is currently 1.06 billon dollars while Pakistan is exporting various products including cotton fabrics, woven made-up articles of textile materials, articles of apparel, chemicals, leather products and cotton yarn etc.
Daudpota told that a 58 member Italian trade delegation is visiting Pakistan from November 05. This delegation will have representatives from all sectors of economy in addition to the heads of different associations. He offered to arrange a meeting of local businessmen with Italian trade delegation and told that on 5th November various sector specific seminars will be held in Serena Hotel Islamabad. On 6th November the members of the delegation will have B2B meetings with local businessmen. Later this delegation will also visit Lahore to have the B2B meetings. He further said that Italy is keen to enhance bilateral trade between the two countries and in this connection and an Italian trade delegation will also visit Faisalabad in January next year.
Engineer Ahmad Hasan Vice President FCCI also introduced Faisalabad Chamber and told that it has 5000 members within its fold. Apart from the efforts by government to increase exports FCCI had also arranged 6 trade delegations during last year. Out of these 3 had visited Italy while another delegation is leaving for Italy on November 20.
Engineer Suhail Bin Rasheed Chairman FCCI standing committee on foreign affairs and international trade delegations demanded that a chapter of Karachi based Italian Trade Agency should be opened in Faisalabad.
