KARACHI: Herman Hardynata Bin Ahmad, Consul General of Malaysia, stated that Pakistan’s part in bilateral commerce was increasing as Malaysia expanded its purchases of rice and frozen goods from Pakistan.
Though trade volume between the two nations was significantly in Malaysia’s advantage, the majority of its exports to Pakistan were palm oil, he added during a meeting at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), according to a statement issued here on Friday.
“Malaysia is a small country and in terms of palm oil production, we are limited and unable to completely fulfil Pakistan’s growing demand for palm oil even though we have been producing palm oil at our peak capacity,” the country’s ambassador to Pakistan stated.
The Malaysian envoy praised KCCI for holding regular meetings and maintaining excellent liaison with the Malaysian Consulate. He also expressed a desire to engage with Karachi’s business community, which was organizing meetings aimed at strengthening bilateral trade and investment ties.
“Last year, a Malaysian delegation came to Pakistan in September to explore new avenues of trade cooperation, and I will try to bring more such delegations to Karachi this year as well,” he said, praising the present trade volume, particularly from the Karachi region.
He stated that both nations have been collaborating not only in trade but also in defense, with Malaysia sending its defense professionals for training in Pakistan and Pakistani officials from the armed forces.
“In addition to enhanced trade, there are many other opportunities in the tourism sector and capacity building in many other sectors of the economy,” he said.
Earlier, President KCCI Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh welcomed the Malaysian CG, stating that Pakistan and Malaysia have strong and diverse bilateral economic links in a variety of areas of mutual importance.
“Despite strong brotherly ties, bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Malaysia remains below its true potential, with Pakistani exports to Malaysia currently standing at around $300 million in FY23, which must be increased to a reasonable level,” the KCCI chief observed, emphasizing the need to eliminate trade barriers, encourage ease of doing business, and diversify products for economic cooperation.
He stated that the effective execution of a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) building a tighter economic connection between Pakistan and Malaysia has the potential to significantly increase trade volume between the countries.
“It is vital for Pakistan to pursue economic integration with the ASEAN region, which has a combined GDP of $3.6 trillion. This will provide fresh opportunities to build contacts and establish institutional connections with individual ASEAN members as well as the collective group,” Sheikh stated.
He believes that SIFC and CPEC, as significant regional economic transformational tools for stimulating FDI, provide tremendous potential for Malaysian enterprises to explore joint ventures while also providing a robust channel to enhance and elevate economic relations between the two nations.
“Pakistani-Malaysian companies could pursue joint ventures in various sectors such as agriculture, textile, foods, pharmaceutical, sports, footwear, leather, energy sectors, Islamic finance, low-cost housing, infrastructure development, telecommunications, and education, etc.” he said, adding that collaborative efforts with Malaysia in worker training and capacity building can contribute to an increase in remittances from Malaysia.
Altaf A. Ghaffar, Senior Vice President of the KCCI, VP Tanveer Ahmed Barry, Chairman of the Diplomatic Missions and Embassies Liaison Subcommittee Farooq Afzal, Former President Majyd Aziz, and members of the KCCI Managing Committee were also in attendance.
