LAHORE: The head of 3-member Japanese delegation Shingo Shinozaki said that Japanese investors have shown keen interest in joint ventures with their Pakistani counterparts in the energy sector.
Talking to LCCI Vice President Nasir Saeed here at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Monday. Vice President of SAARC Chamber of Commerce & Industry Iftikhar Ali Malik threw light on the trade & economic relations between the two countries while members of the delegation Keiji Yamamoto and Mirza Asif Baig also spoke on the occasion.
Delegation members said that research to identify areas of economic cooperation between Pakistan and Japan can help double the existing trade volume. Chambers of Commerce & Industry of both countries can play an important role in this regard.
The LCCI Vice President Nasir Saeed said that Japan is playing a laudable role in economic uplift of Pakistan and striving to deepen mutual understanding through economic exchanges. He said that there is a great scope for establishing joint ventures between business communities of the two countries.
The LCCI Vice President said that Pakistan gives great importance to its relations with Japan as Japan is an important friend of Pakistan. He said that Japan is one of the trillion economies of the world and ranked at third place in the list of GDP-wise largest countries and can play an important role in the economic development of Pakistan.
He said that Japan is a major donor to Pakistan as well as an important trading partner. He said that among the top import and export destinations of Pakistan, Japan comes at 8th and 25th places respectively. Moreover, the bilateral trade has been averaging around US$ 2 Billion. The balance of trade heavily favours Japan as Pakistan’s share in two-way trade is just 10%.
Nasir Saeed said that Pakistan has strong economic and commercial ties with Japan but these relations need to be capitalized to attain greater share in Japanese market. He said that for closing the gap in trade balance, some serious efforts are desired to be made.
Vice President of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce & Industry Iftikhar Ali Malik said that organizations like Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in social sector, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in promotion of trade and investment are playing their due role in Pakistan but we need to innovate the ways to produce better results.
“The best way for us is to identify the areas where we can cooperate with each other. It goes without saying that the role of Japanese Embassy is of key importance”, he added. Iftikhar Ali Malik said that frequent exchange of sector-specific delegations can make the representatives of Japanese private sector explore the opportunities of trade and investment in Pakistan.
He said that Pakistan is struggling to address the energy crisis. There is a huge scope in the field of power sector. We direly need technologies in renewable/alternate energy, solar energy and wind energy etc.
He said that it is an era of out-sourcing. Pakistan has been gifted with a large number of labour resources who are educated, skilled and hardworking. He said that Pakistan will welcome any initiative taken to transfer of technology to Pakistan for assembling purposes. It will be beneficial for both the countries.
“We seek much more assistance from Japan in order to bring long term peace and prosperity in Pakistan”, he added.
He also invited Japanese investors to invest in Pakistan and avail the liberal incentive packages being offered by the present government to the foreign investors.
