SAARC CCI Provided Platform To Communities: Younus Dagha

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Jul, 2017 ) : Federal Secretary for Commerce Mohammad Younus Dagha Wednesday said South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation's (SAARC) Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) has provided a platform to communities of the region for coming together and discussing the prospects of doing business together.

While chairing a meeting with the SAARC CCI led by its president Suraj Vaidya, Dagha said SAARC region holds immense trade and investment potential and to actualize that potential special focus and effort is required for regional integration, a press release issued here said.

He said SAARC member countries must focus on removal of non- tariff barriers (NTBs) and must work for enhancing B2B interaction to boost trade. Dagha expressed pleasure that establishment of SAARC CCI has provided a platform to the business communities of region for coming together and discussing the prospects of doing business together.

He highlighted that although SAARC region holds immense trade and investment potential, being home to 21% of world's population, it still remains one of the least integrated regional blocs with intra-regional trade constituting only 5% of the total world trade, in comparison to 51% for NAFTA and 25% for ASEAN.

The secretary commerce also mentioned that SAFTA has fallen short of expectations due to complex safeguard measures and non-tariff barriers (NTBs) among SAARC member countries.

Dagha stressed that special focus and effort is required for regional integration and removal of NTBs to boost regional trade and actualize the immense trade and investment potential present between the SAARC member states.

The secretary commerce commended the efforts of the SAARC CCI for arranging the activities like SAARC Business Conclave and an Exhibition on the sidelines of every SAARC Summit. "These activities are good for bringing business community together and promoting regional trade", added Younus Dagha.

President SAARC CCI, Suraj Vaidya updated Secretary Commerce on the progress made on the permanent headquarters building project at Islamabad and expressed gratitude for releasing of funds for the building and said that it will help in strengthening the capacity- building of the institution and state-of-art building of SAARC-CCI headquarters in Pakistan will help in image building of the country.

Dagha assured the delegation that Ministry of Commerce would provide full support to SAARC CCI in achieving its objectives and hoped that SAARC CCI will continue to create business-friendly environment that helps businesses to succeed.