Zubair Qureshi
Islamabad
The post-coronavirus world offers tremendous economic opportunities and the global market is likely to experience a huge demand in the coming days.
Under these promising circumstances, Pakistan can earn billions through its exports by meeting international standards/certification criteria on its products in livestock, agriculture, IT & Telecom, etc and also by providing the foreign companies and investors an easy-to-do, transparent and hassle-free business environment.
These views were expressed by the outgoing Ambassador of Denmark Rolf Holmboe during an exclusive interview with Pakistan Observer.
The Danish envoy commended Pakistan’s smart lockdown strategy. “Pakistan needs an export boom and the way Pakistan has handled novel coronavirus with is amazing and as soon as the virus threat is over, (already it has declined substantially), trade and investment activities will accelerate and Pakistan will be in a position to take maximum advantage of that high demand,” said the ambassador.
About Denmark-Pakistan bilateral trade, he said it had increased over 40% over the last years, most of it Pakistani exports to Denmark, “but we should aim at such a growth rate every year in the best case.”
In the existing bilateral trade, Pakistan’s share is around 60%. Among the country’s main exports to Denmark include sports items (FIFA certified footballs), textile and garments, fruits (mangoes, kinnow, etc) and ship construction.
On the other hand, Denmark exports food products, advanced electrical apparatuses, design, pharmaceuticals, machinery for production plants such as cement and food & agri production, to Pakistan.
However, the Danish envoy emphasized that Pakistan needed to innovate in the IT & Software sector and focus on their exports instead of clinging to traditional food and textile items.
To a question why Danish companies were not investing in Pakistan or they were reluctant to invest here, he said their major concern was ease of doing business.
In Pakistan unfortunately, the import regime is quite cumbersome and you never know at the end of the day what exact amount you have to pay in duties or how fast products can be imported or exported. In such an uncertain situation, one can’t expect investors and companies to invest huge capital.
