ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has stressed the need for increased trade volumes between Pakistan and Qatar by tapping the trade potential in various sectors.
“Despite enjoying friendly relations, Pak-Qatar bilateral trade cannot reach even $200 million and there is a dire need to make strong efforts on both sides to improve it,” ICCI Senior Vice President Naveed Malik said during his recent visit along with a delegation of ICCI to Doha, Qatar.
During the visit to Qatar, the delegation visited Pakistan’s embassy in Doha and met with Counselor/Deputy Head of Mission Murad Baseer.
Malik Najeeb said that Pakistan’s embassy in Doha should conduct market studies about the potential of Pakistani products in Qatar and share such information with ICCI so that the business community could take benefit of untapped business opportunities in Qatari market.
He stressed that Pakistan and Qatar should focus on a frequent exchange of trade delegations so that the private sector could explore new avenues of mutual cooperation.
He said Qatar was importing many products from other countries to meet its needs and the purpose of visiting Qatar was to explore prospects for Pakistani products in the Qatari market.
Addressing the delegation, Murad Baseer said that Pakistan had good potential to export many products to Qatar including processed, packaged, frozen, non-frozen food, fresh fruits and vegetables, textiles, sports goods and sportswear, construction materials, pharmaceuticals, food and pharma packaging, medical, surgical disposables, FMCG and personal care products, consumer electronics, light engineering goods, hunting and camping equipment and defense equipment.
He stressed that Pakistani exporters should step up efforts to enhance the trade of these products with Qatar.
He said the best way of further improving trade relations between the two countries was to develop strong linkages between the private sectors of both countries.
He assured that Pakistan Embassy in Qatar would fully cooperate with ICCI in bringing private sectors of both countries closer so that they could identify new areas of mutual cooperation.
