British Mission To Convince More Investors To Pakistan: Dy HC

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Dec, 2020 ) :British Deputy High Commissioner, Mike Nithariankis in Karachi, on Tuesday said there are vast trade and investment opportunities in Pakistan especially in this mega city which is international economic center, and UK mission here is making every possible effort to further promote the economic cooperation between the both countries including boost to trade and investment.

"My job is to bring more British people to see enormous trade and investment opportunities in Pakistan. Here is peace , security and better business environment," he reaffirmed while addressing to an assembly of aspirants of qualifying Civil Superior Services (CSS) here in an historical Frere Community Hall; built in 1865 by then Commissioner Karachi Richard Frere. The event was hosted by Commissioner Karachi Iftikhar Ali Shahlwani.

British Deputy High Commissioner, spoke of the strong economic relationship between the two countries. He said 150 popular British companies like Unilever and GSK pharmaceutical company were successfully operating in Pakistan since long; majority of these were in Karachi. However , he continued, there was big potential for foreign investment in various sectors of Pakistan mainly in agriculture, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. These could boost Pakistan's exports. But, there was also need for improving the supply-chain, storage and processing facilities.

"There was big demand for Pakistan's fruits and vegetables as well," he mentioned.

He said Pakistan needed to diversify its products and focus on new and non-traditional sectors, along with expansion and modernization of the existing manufacturing facilities to compete and get good trade share in international market. United Kingdom had also helped Pakistan in diversifying Pakistan's export goods and job creation. It was a major trade partner of Pakistan. Besides fruits and vegetable , it was big buyer of Pakistan's textile products.

He said there was need to further strengthen economic cooperation between British and Pakistan. Pakistanis were a vibrant nation ; with 70 percent population under the age of 50 years. Around 1.6 million people of Pakistani origin were contributing in United Kingdom's economy.

To question, he said , after departure from European Union, United Kingdom would be in better position to directly discus and engage in trade and investment in Pakistan.

As the British Mission in Karachi had mandate cover Sindh and Balochistan provinces , he along with his team was well-engaged with the two provincial governments and business communities besides the society in general to further promote economic cooperation and social ties between the two countries over last two years of his posting in Karachi.

" I had many evenings and week-ends with Karachiites until outbreak of COVID-19," he said hoping these interactive sessions would be restored soon.

Karachi had a large diversified population and muti-racial culture , it was economic hub of Pakistan. This city had great potential to grow. It has two sea-ports and supported by another main international port of Gwadar. Besides, regional and international economic and trade bodies like Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry was based in Karachi. Pakistan had rich Islamic culture.

He acknowledged that the people of Karachi were very resilient and also survived COVID-19 shocks. In the COVID situation in Karachi, besides civil service the private sector did well.

He also praised Commissioner Karachi Iftikhar Ali Shahlwani's services for the city.

He highlighted that British and Pakistan had strong economic relationship and cooperation in other sectors also which included education and human resource development.

Earlier to this assignment, he worked as Trade Commissioner in Pakistan and had developed strong rapport with latter's Foreign and Commerce Ministries to furthering the bilateral trade.

British Deputy High Commissioner said COVID-19 had disrupted world economies. However, it had brought new business opportunities including online businesses. It was necessary to utilise raw talent especially the youth. There was also need for human resources development as the future of nations lied on it.

Mike Nithariankis shared his experiences as diplomat in many countries. He said British foreign service had responded very well to international incidents.

The British envoy urged the aspirants civil services of Pakistan that they were going to take responsibility of better serving the people. They would need integrity, honesty , objectivity and impartiality to really ensure deliverance of superior services to the people of the country. They would have to respect others including their juniors along with proving professionalism and spirit of collaboration.

He acknowledged enormous role of bureaucracy in Pakistan and hoped the aspirants superior servants would be a very good addition to the bureaucratic corps.

He recalled that it was British who introduced superior services in Pakistan including Collectors and Deputy Collectors.