KARACHI: The President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FPCCI), Atif Ikram Sheikh apprised that Pakistan-US trade volume that crossed $7 billion mark in 2023 has continued the increase in 2024 as it has crossed $6.3 billion in the first 10 months, January to October 2024.
The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world with which Pakistan enjoys a bilateral trade surplus, the FPCCI president said, in a statement.
He said, “the business community believes this volume can potentially be doubled within a short-span of few years – given the demand of Pakistani products in the U.S.; surging information technology exports and anticipated diversification of Pakistani exports basket for the U.S.”
He informed that Ambassador of Pakistan in the U.S. Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, has started a consultative process with FPCCI -aimed at exploring ways and means to achieve exponential growth in exports to the U.S.
Atif Ikram Sheikh maintained that the U.S. GSP Program may be renewed and expanded and Pakistani exporters should remain agile and committed to make full use of the opportunities the enormous export market of the U.S. has to offer to Pakistan. He maintained that 55 percent Pakistani exports to the U.S. comprise of textiles; however, other sectors are catching up as IT exports to the U.S. have crossed the $1 billion psychological mark.
The SVP FPCCI, Saquib Fayyaz Magoon, emphasized that Pakistan, apart from textiles, should focus on export of IT, pharma, jewelry and human resource to the U.S and Pakistani exporters need to maintain quality, standards and compliance of their exports. Pakistani government needs to ensure regionally competitive cost of doing business specifically, vis-à-vis access to finance and electricity tariffs, he added.
Ambassador of Pakistan in the U.S Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, stressed the fact that Pakistan has a very large and influential diaspora of 1 million Pakistani-Americans in the U.S.A. Pakistan is the largest importer of American cotton in the world while the U.S. continues to be one of the top countries from where Pakistan receives foreign remittances.
He also highlighted the U.S. -Pakistan strategic partnership in the war against terror and strong bilateral defense ties and informed that 40,000 Pakistani doctors are working in America, 5,000 Pakistani nursing staff will soon be exported to the U.S. and pharmacists are expected to follow.
Ambassador Sheikh emphasized that the economies of California and Texas are ranked as the 4th and 6th largest in the world, respectively. This highlights the significance of economic, trade, industrial, investment, and B2B relations with the United States, he added.
He noted that while certain aspects of political diplomacy may seem impossible, significant achievements can be made through economic diplomacy, and that is where our focus lies.
