Ukraine would open Trading House in Pakistan to imnprove bilateral business ties with Pakistan. This has been stated Ukrainian Ambassador, Alexander Ivanchuk while leading a delegation at Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FPCCI) on Thursday.
Tariq Sayeed, founder and former President SAARC CCI and former President of FPCCI welcomed the visit of a large Ukrainian delegation at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry Head Office, as a follow-up to the FPCCI’s own delegation to Ukraine in December last year on the initiative of our Ambassador to Ukraine, Saleem Mela.
The delegation was visiting FPCCI to ink a MoU on the establishment of the Pakistan Ukraine Joint Business Council. The delegates were accompanied by Volodymyr Lakomov, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Pakistan, and Saleem Mela, the Ambassador of Pakistan to Ukraine.
While speaking on the occasion, Tariq Sayeed said that both Ukraine and Pakistan forms a trade market of over $200 billion. The volume of trade, however, was unfortunately between $125 million- $175 million, which is below 0.25 percent of the total trade of both countries with the rest of the world.
He mentioned the following reasons for the low level of trade include limited range of items, language barrier, no banking facility, and inadequate follow-up of government decisions.
To remove these bottlenecks, he proposed the following measures that include an exchange of fact finding missions, establishment of commercial sections in the diplomatic missions of both countries, reciprocal establishment of the representative offices of both national chambers, elimination of NTBs and progress towards greater trade liberalization through signing a PTA.
He praised both the Ambassadors for their very active role in making this visit possible. He also lauded the appointment of former Vice President-FPCCI, Engineer M.A. Jabbar, as the Honorary Consul General of Ukraine in Karachi, saying that this was very appropriate decision. He said that Engr. Jabbar will contribute more towards furthering Pak-Ukraine trade.
The leader of the delegation, Alexander Ivanchuk, who is President of the Ukraine Pakistan Business Council and Counselor of Ukraine Chambers of Commerce & Industry, said that a trading House is desired to be set-up by a consortium of Ukrainian companies preferably in the Export Processing Zone.
This will serve not only as the representative office of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (UCCI) but will also connect businessmen of both the countries to promote the export interests of each other.
Earlier, while welcoming the Ukrainian delegation, Shiekh Shakil Ahmed Dhingra, the Acting President of FPCCI expressed his pleasure at the inauguration of the Joint Business Council as a forum that would allow both countries to achieve greater ease in conducting trade.
Engr. M.A. Jabbar said that we are witnessing history in the making because this was the first delegation from Ukraine, which was visiting Pakistan after independence of Ukraine in 1991. We have witnessed the strong desire of both sides to do business as an outcome of the visit. This stand alone would suffice to say that a way forward assuring better prospects for both side businessmen exist to enter into trade regime of 250 billion US dollars available in both countries.