Minister for Commerce Engr Khurram Dastagir Khan on Thursday emphasised on increased interaction between Pakistan and Belarus at different levels, including the exchange of trade delegations, and business, investment related information.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the 4th meeting of Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) here, the minister also recommended increased bilateral trade in general items; which would help both the countries to come up with preferential tariffs.
Led by their Minister for Industries Aleksandr Mikhailovich Radevich, Belarus team included officers of the ministry of commerce, foreign affairs, investment and other line organisations. The Pakistani team represented Ministries of Commerce, Industries, Foreign Affairs, Board of Investment, Education, Defence, Food Security, and State Bank of Pakistan, besides the Chairman Pakistan-Belarus Joint Business Council.
He underlined the need for devising modalities for cooperation between the two countries. The minister spoke of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government’s achievements on economic and social fronts. “Economic performance under the leadership of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was unmatched,” he remarked, adding that during the last fiscal year, the gross domestic product (GDP) was 4.7 per cent and for the current year, the target was 5 per cent.
He said as a result of the best policies of the government, agriculture and industrial sectors, especially the large-scale manufacturing sector, were fast growing. “Auto sector was also flourishing due to the tax incentives,” he noted.
He said State Bank of Pakistan’s prudent policies had also well contributed in promoting trade and industrial activities in the country.
Engr Khurram Dastagir Khan hoped that this ministerial meeting would be very productive in strengthening the bilateral economic cooperation in Pakistan and Belarus. Belarus Minister for Industries stressed upon further advancement of economic cooperation in Belarus and Pakistan. For this purpose, he said, there should be due consultation among the concerned government agencies and the two private sectors. He suggested that starting of banking facilities on both the sides be seriously pursued.
He offered to set up a task force for accelerating the process of promoting economic cooperation between Belarus and Pakistan. He suggested that the areas be identified on which the experts from both the sides could focus. Pakistan and Belarus teams would deliberate upon trade and investment related issues and would come up with possible solutions/modalities. The media would be briefed about the outcome of the joint ministerial commission meeting by the evening today.
