ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Ukraine Volodymyr Lakomov has said that Pakistan and Ukraine have the potential to increase current volume of bilateral trade from less than $200 million to beyond $1 billion by enhancing collaboration between the private sectors of the two countries.
He said this while interacting with business community during his visit to Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI).
He said that during the last couple of years, Pak-Ukraine trade has witnessed significant improvement; however, there was lot more scope to improve it. He said that Ukraine has signed an association agreement with European Union which would help it integrate into Europe. The agreement also includes a free trade zone deal with European Union and added that by enhancing cooperation with Ukraine, Pakistani businessmen could get easy access to $17 trillion Europe’s market.
He said that Ukrainian entrepreneurs were eager to promote trade with Pakistan and were looking for permanent partnerships with Pakistani counterparts. He said ICCI should sign MoU with Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to promote private sectors connectivity so that businessmen of both countries could play positive role for enhancing trade relations. He assured that his Embassy would facilitate such initiatives to further strengthen and deepen commercial ties between Pakistan and Ukraine.
In his welcome address, Muzzamil Hussain Sabri, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Pakistan and Ukraine enjoy good relations since long that should be transformed into growing trade and economic relations. He identified energy, agriculture, textile, food processing, fruits, steel, mining & minerals, machinery & equipment, transport and chemicals as potential areas of cooperation between the two countries.
He said there existed great potential for increasing bilateral trade and emphasized that both countries should consider signing a preferential trade agreement to tap all untapped areas of mutual cooperation. He said sector-specific efforts should be accelerated to start a new era of trade and economic relations between the two countries.
Muzzamil Sabri urged that both sides should enhance exchange of trade delegations, organize trade fairs and single country exhibitions, which could play a significant role to achieve the desired goals. He said both countries should explore establishment of direct communications links that would facilitate two-way trade. He said ICCI was ready to sign MoU with Ukrainian CCI and would consider taking a delegation to Ukraine in order to explore new avenues of mutual cooperation between the two countries.
Senior Vice President Muhammad Shakeel Munir, Vice President Muhammad Ashfaq Hussain Chatha, Khalid Chaudhry, Tahir Abbasi and others were also present at the occasion.
