KCCI says Pakistan, Malaysia far from taking full advantage of FTA

Pakistan and Malaysia have to find new areas of mutual cooperation and try to further boost trade and economic ties, said Muhammad Haroon Agar, president of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on Wednesday.
“Full advantage of Pak-Malaysia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) needs to be taken to boost bilateral trade volume which still far behind from its existing potential,” he said.
“Presently the balance of trade is in favour of Malaysia which requires a narrow-down while increasing the Pak exports to Malaysia,” said Agar during visit of Consul General of Malaysia Abu Bakar Mamat accompanied by Trade Commissioner, Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation Noraslan Hadi Abdul Kadir to KCCI.
The KCCI president stressed the need to address the trade imbalance by diversifying trading products besides palm oil. He suggested that one way of doing this would be to increase the volume of exports of non-basmati rice, halal food products and frozen seafood to Malaysia given the sizeable demand and the fact that Malaysia imports such products from neighbouring countries.
He said there was ample “goodwill for expansion of trade and establishment of joint ventures in various industrial sectors including ship breaking, pharmaceuticals, palm oil refining, food processing, sports goods and construction sectors. Malaysia is also availing the services of large number of Pakistanis highly qualified professionals in the field of engineering, health and medicine, he added. Malaysia Special Economic Zone in Karachi will act as cornerstone as the Special Economic Zone law was passed by the government”.
Agar articulated that through FTA, “Pakistan has given market access to Malaysia on basic raw materials, intermediate goods and machinery and consequently Malaysia should provide market access to Pakistan for its core import products like rice, fruits and vegetables, seafood, beverages, confectionary, gems and jewellery, cotton yarn, cotton fabric, blankets, bed linen, other home textile products medicaments and surgical instruments, etc.
Medical tourism is a strong sector in Malaysia and Pakistan may seek its help to develop this sector in Pakistan. Malaysia has become centre of Islamic Banking and which also gained momentum in Pakistan. Malaysian investment in this sector would be a welcome addition. He also highlighted possibilities of low-cost housing projects in Karachi by Malaysian companies.
Agar also stressed on the need of frequent exchange of trade delegations, regular exchange of trade information and organizing single country exhibitions.
He informed that Pakistani tourists visited Malaysia in great number whereas the Malaysian tourists were not much interested in visiting Pakistan, so he urged the consul general to play his part to convince the Malaysian tourists to visit Pakistan.
Consul General of Malaysia Abu Bakar Mamat appreciated that Pak-Malaysia friendly relations were deep-rooted and fortifying with the passage of time. He recognized KCCI being the largest chamber and Karachi being the commercial and industrial hub of Pakistan which holds significant status and attraction for Malaysia. He conversed that Malaysia desired to centralise its trade with Pakistan and in this connection a high profile business delegation of 30 leading Malaysian companies is visiting Pakistan on the juncture of Expo Pakistan 2013 scheduled in September for B2B and business interactions.