National Chamber Hosts Pakistan Envoy At "Meet The High Commissioner" Programme

National Chamber hosts Pakistan envoy at

The High Commissioner of Pakistan in Sri Lanka, Dr. Shahid Ahmad Hashmat met the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka on April 25, 2018 and spoke about "Bilateral Trade between Sri Lanka and Pakistan".

Colombo, (Pakistan Point News - 27th Apr, 2018) : The High Commissioner of Pakistan in Sri Lanka, Dr. Shahid Ahmad Hashmat met the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka on April 25, 2018 and spoke about "Bilateral Trade between Sri Lanka and Pakistan". The High Commissioner Dr. Shahid Ahmad Hashmat said that Pakistan and Sri Lanka are linked by strong bonds of culture and history. He underscored that Sri Lanka was the first country to sign Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Pakistan in 2005, which shows importance of economic relationship between the two countries.

Bilateral trade between two countries has grown substantially since signing of FTA, he added. He further highlighted that Pakistan has very large domestic market with nearly 210 Million population and the overall volume of Pakistan economy is 400 Billion USD. He added that Pakistan's huge consumer base market makes it an attractive investment destination for different industries. The High Commissioner thanked the National Chamber for arranging the seminar that shows its keenness to promote bilateral trade between the both countries.

He was of the view that with the conducive environment and immense opportunities, which Pakistan offers, Sri Lankan products and services would find receptive customers in Pakistan as Sri Lanka has a very friendly image in the eyes of Pakistani people. He said that both countries have the potential to increase the trade volume and stressed the need to carve out ways and means to exploit the available potential. He also emphasized to exchange more trade delegations between both countries which will help to understand either country's market.

At the conclusion of the programme, a question-answer session was also held and various issues such as bilateral trade, business visa, etc. were came under discussion. He assured the participants that Pakistan High Commission in Colombo will extend all possible facilitation to Sri Lankan businesses in promoting their commercial ties with Pakistani counterparts. SAARC CCI HQ building to be beacon of peace, symbol of prosperity and progress: Ruwan ISLAMABAD, April 27 (INP): President SAARC Chamber Ruwan Edirisinghe, Friday said state of the art 10-storey building of chamber headquarters in Islamabad costing rupees one billion after completion, will be a symbol of peace, beacon of prosperity, progress, an effective catalyst for SAARC's rescue and resuscitation besides inculcating the spirit of trust with its neighbours, showing solidarity, and forging with them a habit of cooperation.

Chairing a high level meeting of the building committee here he said SAARC CCI headquarters will also provide a platform to communities of the region for coming together and discussing the prospects of doing business together," says a press release issued here today. He said it is the top priority of the SAARC CCI agenda that all due efforts would be initiated to forge good relations with all SAARC member states and for this, we have to commit to and accelerate our efforts towards forging closer bilateral and regional partnerships and economic integration within the subcontinent and beyond.

He is much sanguine about the future of the SAARC CCI and said we will have to underwrite the creation of regional public goods for South Asians to integrate sitting here from chamber permanent headquarter. We can utilize this capacious building for launching pad of optimal utilization of the region's natural resources, building regional infrastructure, creating connectivity within the region and with the world with energy grids, cross-border transport networks, coastal shipping, air links, roads, railways and waterways, besides flood and other natural disaster mitigation and prevention measures.

It can implement trade facilitation measures, thereby lowering transaction costs and generating greater regional investment and employment. Mr Ruwan said South Asian cooperation faces multiple challenges as this constitutes the world's second least developed region after Sub-Saharan Africa and its per capita GDP, in terms of purchasing power parity, is three times below the global average while it has more poor people than the rest of the world.

Despite this, he said, SAARC region holds immense trade and investment potential and to actualize that potential special focus and effort is required for regional integration. He said SAARC member countries must focus on removal of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) and must work for enhancing B2B interaction to boost trade. Earlier, Chairman Building Committee VP SAARC chamber Pakistan chapter Iftikhar Ali Malik apprising the participants about the progress said that 95 per cent structure of the building has been completed under the supervision of high profile internationally accredited architects and designers.

He said that the government of Pakistan and magnates have contributed 80 per cent of the total of the cost of the project valued at rupees one billion. He hoped that it will be completed before the end of current Calendar. He said Vice Chairman Building Committee Zubair Ahmad Malik is personally supervising the completion of the building while Secretary General Ms Hina Saeed and Deputy Secretary General Zulfiqar Ali Butt with staff visit the project on regular basis to ensure timely execution of the project without compromising quality of the construction and standard of material. Ruwan appreciated the efforts of Iftikhar Ali Malik and Zubair Ahmad Malik for judicious use of the funds for the project and also lauded the landmark contribution of Government of Pakistan for lion share in the project.