THE United Kingdom has expressed its keen interest to increase its bilateral trade with Pakistan from the existing £3 billion to £10 billion to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. Talking to the business community during his visit to the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) on Friday, UK’s Deputy High Commissioner in Karachi and Trade Director for Pakistan Mike Nithavrianakis emphasized that Pakistan should focus on addressing the issues of red tape and other bottlenecks along with ensuring a predictable and growth-oriented tax regime to attract more investors from the UK and other countries.
Throughout the history of bilateral relations, the United Kingdom proved to be a dependable trade partner of Pakistan, a source of quality investment and a lucrative employment destination for our manpower. The UK was a source of strength for Pakistan in its relations with the European Union and it has assured continued cooperation in the post-Brexit period and remarks and assurances of the Deputy High Commissioner are reflective of the same commitment. It is really time to ponder over the reality that about 5,000 UK companies were doing business in the UAE, but only 150 companies were in Pakistan despite the fact that Pakistan was a huge market of over 200 million people. As has been stated by the diplomat, the UK was focusing on four areas for close cooperation with Pakistan – healthcare, education, green energy and infrastructure and willing to boost ties in agriculture, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and other sectors to make its economy more competitive. Given this willingness, our officials concerned and members of the trading community must have brain-storming sessions as to what could be done on our part to attract more investment from the UK and how exports could be meaningfully enhanced. Substantial progress can be made as the UK was also ready to provide preferential access for Pakistani products to its market. Apart from taking measures to bring down the cost of production, Pakistan authorities and exporters should join hands in meeting quality standards set by the United Kingdom and better marketing for our products.
