Pakistan-UAE council announces steps to strengthen trade relations

Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI’s) Pak-UAE Business Council (PUBC) held its first inaugural meeting under the Chairmanship of Diwan Fakhruddin and announced a new round of initiatives to take the trade relations between Pakistan and the UAE to the next level. The meeting was attended by all the members of PUBC.

Vice President of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry Nasir Khan graced the meeting with his presence signaling how important it is for FPCCI to spearhead the growth of trade between the two brotherly countries.

“Our relations with UAE are strong and Trade plays a major role in it and we need to now create a new road map to meet the changing needs of the UAE market sectors so as to grow both our exports to and imports from UAE” says Diwan. He also emphasized on the fact that that companies doing business in UAE has to ensure quality and position itself “in building Brand Pakistan so as to effectively compete and enhance our market share in the UAE”.

“FPCCI plays a major role in Pakistan’s economy as export trade is the backbone hence PUBC will play an effective role through creating awareness and motivating FPCCI members to tap the emerging opportunities in UAE particularly in food and technology,” said Diwan.

 He also announced the following in the meeting: Area of focus 1: Creating a HELP DESK of PUBC which shall provide all the information and assistance to the Pakistani companies wanting to do business in UAE or importing from UAE.

A team shall be created by the Chairman to analyse the trading data between UAE and Pakistan so as to derive necessary business intelligence to create the new roadmap for enhancing the trade between the two countries.

How to build Brand Pakistan in UAE workshops and online seminars for the FPCCI members; and ensure we maximise the opportunities arising from Expo 2021 for the FPCCI members through the Pakistan pavilion; Asia-Pacific has two main hubs for traders; Singapore and UAE.

The former is far and trade is relatively expensive there while the latter is closer and trade is quicker making it ideal for Pakistan. We can use this to our advantage and double our export.

The meeting was concluded with emphasis on Expo 2021. Diwan stated that this can be a gamechanger for Pakistan if we grab all opportunities that it has to offer. Companies and investors from all around the globe will be present and this will be our opportunity to showcase what Pakistan has to offer in terms of IT sector, agriculture, textile, tourism and much more. We urge all manufacturers in Pakistan especially in Gujarat, Sialkot and Gujranwala to participate in this exhibition, introduce themselves and help our economy grow. NNI

Earlier the Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue in Pakistan, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said that the government had been focusing on improving the real sector growth through promotion of agriculture, industrial and services sectors of economy.

Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh discussed the financial development, real sector, and economic growth of the country.

“The government is focused on bringing improvement in the real sector growth through inclusive growth in agriculture, industrial and services sectors,” he informed the Senate in a written reply to a question raised by a member of the Upper House.

He said that realising the importance of sub-sectors of the economy, the government had initiated different programmes including National Agriculture Emergency programme (NAEP) under which thirteen mega projects worth Rs277 billion were under execution currently. He said that the objective of NAEP was to bring about improvements in water availability, soil conservation and shrimp fanning and establishing new agriculture markets.

The minister said that Rs10.964 billion mega project National Oilseed Enhancement programme (NOEP) under NAEP was launched to boost the adoption of oilseed crops at cost of Rs10.964 billion for 5 years. Likewise, the government allocated Rs10 billion for locust control in current budget while an amount of Rs 12billion was allocated under Public Sector Development Programme 2020-21 for ensuring food security and promoting agriculture sector.

He said that the government enhanced agriculture credit disbursement by 3.5 per cent during the fiscal year 2020 to Rs 1214.7 billion as compared to the corresponding period of last year while during the During the first three months of financial year 2020-21, agriculture credit disbursement stood at Rs250 billion.

Meanwhile, to support industrial sector, the government had taken many initiatives including reduction of Federal Excise Duty (FED) on cement from Rs2 per kilogramme to Rs1.5 per kilogramme, relaxation of excise duties on textile items, Rs33 billion markup subsidy for construction sector, Export Finance Scheme (EFS) maintained at 3 per cent while Long Term Finance Facility (KTFF) was reduced from 6 per cent to 5 per cent.