A delegation of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry led by its President Atif Ikram Sheikh called on HE Mr Suchart Leingsaengthong, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand, and discussed with him various options for further enhancing trade relations between Pakistan and Thailand.
Addressing the ICCI delegation, the ambassador of Thailand said that Thailand considered Pakistan an important country for strengthening economic cooperation as both countries had great potential to offer a lot to each other. He said the current volume of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Thailand was around 1 billion dollars and added that there existed good scope to increase it to $ 2 billion by improving connectivity between their private sectors.
The ambassador said that Pakistan and Thailand were making efforts to sign a free trade agreement and hoped that the FTA would be finalised by the end of 2016. He said that conclusion of FTA would not only boost trade, it would also help in strengthening ties between the two countries. He said Pakistani textiles were very popular in Thailand and it wanted to increase import of textiles products from Pakistan. He said given the size of Pakistan’s economy, Thailand considered it a promising country for business relations. He assured that his embassy would facilitate businessmen in improving trade volume between the two countries.
Speaking at the occasion, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Atif Ikram Sheikh stressed upon the need of strong linkages between the private sectors of both countries to increase trade volume. He said the exchange trade delegations and holding single country exhibitions on reciprocal basis was the best way for promoting bilateral trade between Pakistan and Thailand. He said many Pakistani products including textiles, readymade garments, surgical instruments, sports goods, leather products, fruits and vegetables and many others could find good market in Thailand and it should focus on importing these products from Pakistan. He said Thai investors should invest in Pakistan’s various sectors including infrastructure development, energy, auto parts manufacturing, food processing, packaging, gems and jewelry, tourism and hospitality.
