KARACHI: Ambassador of Germany Bernhard Stephan Schlagheck has assured to share information about the potential sectors and opportunities available in Pakistan amongst those German companies who might be interested in investing in this market that would improve relations between the business communities of the two countries.
The assurance was given by the envoy at a meeting during his visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) which was also attended by Consul General of Germany Holger Ziegeler, Vice Chairman BMG Anjum Nisar, President KCCI Shariq Vohra, Senior Vice President Saqib Goodluck, Vice President Shamsul Islam Khan, Chairman of Diplomatic Missions & Embassies Liaison Subcommittee Junaid Mundia and KCCI Managing Committee Members attended the meeting.
German Ambassador said, “We will certainly assist the business communities of the two countries looking forward to improving relations with each other and this is why I am here to seek your advice and recommendation on what we can do to promote trade and investment.”
Vice Chairman BMG Anjum Nisar said, “Germany is one of the few countries with whom Pakistan enjoys surplus trade which means we are exporting more to Germany and importing less.” He stressed that German business community must look into the possibility of either investing or undertaking joint ventures in many sectors of the economy, particularly the alternate energy, solar & wind energy or any other sector where quantum leap change could be witnessed and they can also collaborate in manufacturing various goods with proper branding as substitute for imports.
“It may appear unrealistic and look like a joke today to have US$10 billion trade with Germany but it was not impossible, keeping in view the massive trade potential”, he added while referring to Germany’s mammoth exports of US$1500 billion, of which goods worth a meager amount of US$1.17 billion was being exported to Pakistan.
President KCCI Shariq Vohra, in his remarks, appreciated German Ambassador for his keen interest to develop trade and investment ties between the two friendly countries but it was a bit unfortunate that not much investment was coming in from Germany. “We need to discuss our relationship in a new dimension with a particular focus on exploring trade and investment opportunities in CPEC. However, it has been observed that businessmen and investors from European countries were not taking much interest in CPEC which requires attention”, he added.
He said that Pakistan has great potential for enhancing trade and investment with Germany in numerous sectors of the economy hence, German business community must look into the possibility of entering into this potential market with a sizeable population exceeding 225 million. “We can assist Germany by facilitating joint ventures in construction sector, infrastructure development, power generation and transmission, public transport and many other sectors”, he opined, adding that KCCI and German Consulate will have to make collective efforts for improving the existing bilateral relations so that the two countries could benefit.
