Pakistan Needs To Produce Products Competitive In EU Market: Kaminara

Ambassador of European Union to Pakistan Androulla Kaminara said on Tuesday that Pakistan and European Union had the potential in various sectors in addition to textile and Pakistan needed to produce products which were competitive in the EU market

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Oct, 2019 ) :Ambassador of European Union to Pakistan Androulla Kaminara said on Tuesday that Pakistan and European Union had the potential in various sectors in addition to textile and Pakistan needed to produce products which were competitive in the EU market.

Talking to the business community here at Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI), she said "we are ready to help Pakistan to expand its exports to European Union and would like to be its partner in this regard." The ambassador said that European Union and Pakistan had signed the Strategic Engagement Plan in June of this year to boost their relations in diverse fields. She added that increase in Pakistan's exports was because of duty-free access to Pakistani products under GSP Plus. She said that GSP Plus was reviewed annually on performance basis therefore Pakistan should ensure implementation of all conventions under this status.

The Ambassador said that Ease of Doing Business was a biggest challenge for Pakistan, asserting that its indicators must be improved to encourage foreign investors to invest in Pakistan.

Androulla Kaminara pledged that the EU would continue engaging with partners including Pakistan, to address the common challenge of climate change through a multilateral approach.She said that know-how about trade and investment opportunities was essential and exchange of sector-specific trade delegation could play a vital role in this regard. She said that EU was focusing on digitalization, climate change and immigration in particular. She said that special focus on vocational training would ensure provision of skilled human resources to the industry of Pakistan.

LCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that Pakistan and European Union had strong trade relations. European Union was the Pakistan's most important trading partner and accounted for about 18 per cent of Pakistan's total trade volume and around 33 per cent of Pakistan's total exports.

It was encouraging to see that overall trade figures were following upward trends.

He said that from 2016 to 2018, the volume of trade went up from US $ 11.7 billion to US $ 13.46 billion. Pakistan's exports to European Union showed good improvement and increased from US $ 6.9 billion to US $ 8 billion during this period. The imports from European Union also followed the same trend and reached US $ 5.5 billion in 2018 as compared to US $ 4.8 billion in 2016. Pakistan's exports to EU were heavily dominated by textiles which accounted for more than 75 per cent of Pakistan's exports to EU. There was a need for greater product diversity in Pakistan's exports to EU. There potential areas where Pakistan could enhance its exports to EU were leather products, furniture, carpets, plastics, sports goods and rice etc.

The LCCI President said that it was a steady feature of Pakistan's trade with European Union that almost 71 per cent of total exports sent to EU were with five countries namely UK, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Italy. "We look forward to finding more and more opportunities of market penetration in other countries like Greece, Slovenia and Ireland etc., where Pakistan's export are relatively much low," he added.

LCCI Senior Vice President Ali Hussam Asghar said that LCCI had declared ongoing year as the year of exports. He said that Lahore was second largest economic hub of the country and its contribution in GDP was impressive. European Union should encourage joint ventures and support Pakistan for increase in exports, he suggested.

He said that sector-specific delegations should be encouraged. Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry would encourage export-oriented trade delegations and guidance of European Union would help Pakistan to meet its targets. He said that LCCI wanted to establish testing laboratory of international standards in collaboration with the government.