ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Hungary to Pakistan, Béla Fazekas, on Wednesday pledged to increase bilateral trade with Pakistan to $250 million, paving new avenues for bilateral economic cooperation.
“The two countries have a potential for bilateral trade in a number of sectors that needs to be further explored in addition to work in new areas,” he added.
The ambassador said this in a meeting with former Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) president Zafar Bakhtawari and former ICCI vice president Ahsan Bakhtawari in the Embassy of Hungary, according to a news release issued here.
Fazekas said bilateral trade between the two countries had reached to $150 million in 2008, but had come down to $50 million at present. The ambassador said that a few upcoming agreements and Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) would pave the way for mutual economic cooperation between the two countries which would be signed soon.
He said the completion of Gwadar Port would also help Pakistan and other regional countries to be connected in world trade.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan’s economy is set to experience an uptick with the completion of Gwadar Port, which will increase economic and trade links between regional countries in addition to bilateral trade with Central Asian Republics (CARs).
On the occasion, the Hungarian ambassador agreed, in a conversation with senior businessmen, agreed that a direct air flight between Pakistan and Hungary was important, adding that his government was considering it.
He said every year on average around five million Pakistanis visit foreign countries for tourism and trade purposes and that the Hungary’s government was considering this area and wanted to attract tourism.
Bakhtawari said that direct air link between the two countries would not only improve trade relations between the two countries, but also increase people-to-people contacts.
Béla Fazekas said that the Pakistan-Hungary Friendship Group of Parliamentarians was playing an important role in improving the relations between the two countries; however, he mentioned that bilateral trade between the two countries had been affected during the pandemic and said that online and digital meetings to discuss trade matters was a good solution.
