KARACHI: British Deputy High Commissioner Elin Burns on Wednesday said London will continue to maintain Pakistan’s GSP Plus status in the wake of Brexit, when United Kingdom (UK) emerges independent of the European Union.
“We will unilaterally agree to put those GSP Plus arrangements in place which is going to be a very positive step in terms of strengthening UK-Pakistan trade ties and it shows UK’s strong commitment and desire to expand trade with Pakistan,” Burns said at a meeting with the members of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).
Reiterating UK’s commitment to replicate GSP Plus system arrangements with Pakistan, the British diplomat said London was keen to bolster trade and investment cooperation with Pakistan.
“We have increased our trade teams with presence in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, which is the sign of the importance that we give to strengthening trade relations with Pakistan,” she added.
Burns said the UK government has also appointed Rehman Chishti, a British national of Pakistani descent, as adviser to Prime Minister Theresa May for promotion of trade relations between the UK and Pakistan.
“Chishti, who is the UK’s trade envoy for Pakistan, is very enthusiastic to strengthen trade relations between the two countries,” she said. She added the British government has also doubled Export Financing from 200 million pounds to 400 million pounds, which is a significant figure, for British companies who are interested in doing business in Pakistan.
“We are doing a lot on our side to encourage UK firms to explore good opportunities in Pakistan and increase their businesses in Pakistan,” Burns said expressing her optimism about more trade between the two countries in next months and years.
Referring to concerns raised over the issuance process of visas, she said that all these concerns were ‘misconceptions’. “Visa applications for Pakistanis are not decided in India as our Visa Center continues to operate from Abu Dhabi”, she said and assured that staffers at the Visa Center in Abu Dhabi work under British values, standards, and rules so there was absolutely no bias in the entire process.
In this regard, she said that Head of Visa Operations in Abu Dhabi will be invited to Karachi to explain the entire visa issuance process. “We don’t want the legitimate businessmen and legitimate students being unable to travel to UK,” she added.
Thanking the British envoy for her detailed discourse, Siraj Kassam Teli, chairman BMG & former president KCCI, said more than one hundred UK companies were operating in Pakistan with a number of them in joint ventures but the full potential was far from reached.
“We should have been too far ahead from where we stand today in terms of business and trade cooperation,” Teli said. Earlier, Muffasar Atta Malik, president KCCI, said after UK’s withdrawal from the bloc, EU’s share would be reduced to 24 percent from 31 percent.
“However, the impact of Brexit on Pakistan's trade can be neutralised if the government works on securing a similar tariff concession deal with UK enabling it to secure its market access after Brexit,” Malik said.