ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) is pursuing agenda of diversification of new markets for Pakistani products especially in Europe.
“In this connection, an important meeting between the Minister for Commerce Engineer Khuram Dastgir and Spanish ambassador Javier Carbajosa Sanchez is being held today (Tuesday) here” a well placed source at MoC told this scribe here on Monday.
Matters pertaining to enhancing existing volume of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Spain are likely to come under discussion in the meeting between both the dignitaries.
Spain’s trade plays a significant role in the nation’s economy, accounting for more than half of its GDP. Spain’s weak trade scenario is attributable to several factors, predominantly the nation’s increasing reliance on imported petrol and decreased market competitiveness. Additionally, the steady decline of Spain exports is also attributed to the strength of the euro, since it was adopted by Spain for international trade, which has made Spanish exports more expensive.
Major Pakistani exports to Spain include raw cotton (small quantities), cotton waste, crude animal material like animal casting, leather, leather gloves, leather garments and other accessories, cotton fabrics, cotton yarn, yarn other than cotton yarn, knitted or crocheted fabric, poly-cotton fabric, tents and canvas, synthetic textiles and artificial silk, footwear, fruits and derivatives (small quantities), towels, bed linen, kitchen Linen, readymade garments and compliments, knitwear (hosiery), chemical and medical products, cutlery, surgical, dental and medical equipment, carpets and rugs, footballs, racquets, sports gloves, handicrafts, mango, kino (small quantities), vegetables (small quantities), wool, ethyl alcohol, basmati rice, rice ( other varieties), spices (small quantities), dry fruits like pine nuts, almonds, walnut and others.
Moc is following a policy to shift focus of export and market search from the Western European countries to Eastern European Countries so that Pakistani exports can be enhanced to these countries. Moreover, MoC is also eyeing on having significant trade enhancement opportunities in Spain due to economic down turn like Greece and few other Eastern European countries.
An overview of Spanish exports and import reveals that Spain’s top export and import partners are from the EU region. Key export commodities of the nation include motor vehicles, foodstuffs, medicines, machinery and pharmaceuticals. Spain has a wide gap between imports and exports and main reason for this gap is the lack of resources in the nation, particularly oil. The nation imports a sizeable 1.813 million barrels of oil per day. Other vital import commodities of Spain are mechanical and electric machinery, and iron and steel.
In the recent days, Javier Carbajosa Sanchez has observed that Spain is anxious to promote bilateral trade with Pakistan, stating that there exists enormous potential for investment in alternative energy resources and tourism in Pakistan.
In this perspective, Minster for Commerce will apprise the Spanish Ambassador about MoC and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan’s (TDAP), upcoming events titled Ali Shaan Pakistan expos likely to be organized in London and other European cities to promote Pakistani products.
In this regard Minister will invite the Spanish investors and businessmen to those expose with an objective to attract more customers and buyers for Pakistani products.
Moreover, both the dignitaries will also discuss MoC’s Brand Promotion Policy of Pakistani products. In this regard, Minister will also invite Spanish Ambassador to Expo Pakistan (February 26th- March 1st) to be held in Karachi because the success of last Expo Pakistan is manifested by the participation of a large number of local and foreign buyers who settled business deals estimated at US$ 1 billion as compared to deals estimated at US$ 690 million, the year before.
