Senior Economic Officer of US Consulate Alexander Orr said on Monday that the United States wanted to enhance trade and investment ties as Washington was keen to look for more investment and more trade with Pakistan.
There were lot of challenges and opportunities for enhancing trade and the United States remained committed towards furthering relations with Pakistan, he said, while speaking at a meeting during his visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
President KCCI Abdullah Zaki, Chairman Diplomatic Affairs Sub-Committee KCCI Abdul Jabbar Dalal, former president KCCI Majyd Aziz and other senior members were also present in the meeting.
“The US has remained actively engaged in various economic activities in Pakistan and we have been supporting Pakistan in its drive to effectively deal with energy crisis”, said Orr, adding “US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been cooperating with Pakistani authorities in overcoming the energy crisis being faced by the country.”
“Education is one of the highest priorities of US engagements in Pakistan. We have heavily invested in Pakistan’s education sector and lot of US-funded programs have been undertaken to improve education. Many Pakistani students are already studying in the US and we would love to see more”, he added.
Commenting on negative perception about Pakistan, Alexander Orr said, “Perception about Pakistan is worse than the reality that requires all of us to make efforts as it is our responsibility to send positive message about Pakistan to the rest of the world while the Pakistani government must also utilise resources to clarify these misconceptions.”
Replying to a question regarding invariable trade between Pakistan and United States during the last one decade, he said although there were some obstacles in few sectors that needed to be worked out but trade had been gradually improving between the two countries. Some positive movement in trade had been witnessed, particularly the rise in exports of mangoes from Pakistan. However, Pakistan needed to further promote its products and services in US markets. In this regard, the best way of improving trade between the two countries was to support companies and promote opportunities, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, KCCI President Abdullah Zaki stressed the need to further enhance trade ties between Pakistan and United States as the existing trade volume was not depicting the real trade potential.
He said that Karachi chamber had remained vibrant in strengthening trade ties and exploring new bilateral trade prospects with the US KCCI had always maintained the stance that “we want trade not aid” and emphasized upon the need of minimizing trade barriers between the two countries.
He pointed out that misconceptions about the security situation of Pakistan must be clarified as the overall security situation was not as worse as being imagined by foreign businessmen and industrialists mainly due to negative travel advisories being issued from time to time.
Abdullah Zaki also underscored the need to enhance interactions between the business communities with a view to further improve trade and business relations between both the countries.
