Our correspondent Faisalabad
Ambassador of Philippine to Pakistan Mr. Daniel Ramos Espiritu has said that his country is ready to import 14 million dollar cement from Pakistan to undertake its gigantic infrastructure development project of 260 billion dollar.
Addressing the business community at Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) on Tuesday, the Envoy said that bilateral trade do not match with the actual potential of the Philippine and Pakistan and we must make collaborated and serious efforts to enhance it up to the satisfactory level.
He mentioned ups and down in bilateral trade during last decade and said that his objective to visit Faisalabad is to enhance volume of trade and investment between the two countries.
Mr. Espiritu said that currently Philippine is exporting electronics, garments and auto parts to Pakistan. “Pakistan use auto parts for the assembling of cars which are re-exported to earn foreign exchange” he said and added that Philippine is also importing rice from Pakistan as per capita consumption of rice in Philippine is more than China. He told that Philippine has launched reconstruction of infrastructure project and it needs cement is large quantity.
“We are planning to import it from Pakistan after its import from China and America”, he said and added that initially 14 million dollar cement will be imported from Pakistan while its quantity will be increased gradually. He appreciated the proposal of President Engineer Hafiz Ihtasham Javed to enhance export of textiles, pharmaceuticals and rice and in this connection a conducive climate with maximum incentives will be offered to the new investors.
The Philippine Envoy said that pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan is saturated and now it should established its new pharma units in Philippine from where they will have free access to 600 million population of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) block. About textile, he said that Pakistan has raw material and skill to produce high quality textile products.
