LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Pakistan’s Mission in Indonesia have decided to further strengthen online linkage to begin a new era of cooperation.
The decision was made at a meeting between LCCI Vice President Kashif Anwar and Ambassador-designate to Indonesia Attiya Mahmood. LCCI Executive Committee members Raja Hamid Riaz, Iftikhar Bashir Chaudhry, Zafar Mahmood and former Executive Committee Member Zeeshan Khalil was also present on the occasion.
There was a consensus between the two sides that serious efforts are needed to enhance the volume of two-way trade between Pakistan and Indonesia as Indonesia represents 40 percent of ASEAN’s aggregate economy and projected to grow in 2014.
The LCCI Vice President was of the view, “There was a lot of scope for Indonesians to make investment in Pakistan or enter into joint ventures with their Pakistani counterparts. It is, therefore, proposed that the potential areas should be studied and monitored by the commercial section of diplomatic mission for promoting trade and investment between the two countries. And this is possible through active engagement of the Chambers of Commerce & Industry of the two countries, frequent exchange of economic & trade delegations to identify the areas of mutual interest and arranging single country exhibitions in each other’s country.”
He said that Indonesia and Pakistan being members of OIC, are bonded together by old historical links and enjoy cordial relations based on commonality of religion. “Indonesia having population size of around 240 million is the most populous country of Muslim Ummah while Pakistan comes at second place. Our two countries together have a population of over 420 million. It fairly hints about the available size of market for each other,” he added.
He further said that with such a huge size of manpower, both the sides need to harness this resource by embarking upon labour intensive ventures. For that matter government to government and private sector to private sector interaction can play effective role.
Pakistan’s major exports to Indonesia include cotton, maize, cotton fabric, wheat, leather and cotton yarn. Whereas imports are palm oil, coal, nuts, artificial staple fibres, silver, paper and yarn of synthetic fibre.
Kashif Anwar said that the LCCI has achieved another milestone by establishing a Mediation Centre in collaboration with International Finance Corporation. He said that LCCI Mediation Centre has well trained experts who can provide mediation services in order to settle any trade dispute. This centre will serve as a confidence booster for Indonesian business community to positively consider Pakistan for trade expansion.
Speaking on the occasion, the Ambassador said that she would make best use of the diplomatic channel for the enhancement of liaison between the business people of the two sides as Pakistan’s share in two-way trade is lesser than that of Indonesia but it is a good omen that the two countries are on the right track.
