Pakistan, Italy aim to expand trade and investment ties

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Italy have expressed their desire to boost their bilateral trade and investment relations, as they see a lot of potential for collaboration in various sectors of the economy.

This was the main outcome of a meeting between Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, the president of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), and Augusto Palmieri, the first secretary of the Italian Embassy, and Salvatore Parano, the director of the Italian Trade Agency, who visited the ICCI on Saturday.

Bakhtawari said the current bilateral trade volume of around one billion euros between Pakistan and Italy was not reflective of the actual potential of both countries and efforts should be made to double it as both countries have the capacity to trade in many more items.

He said both countries should work to develop strong business linkages between their private sectors to explore all untapped areas of bilateral cooperation.

Bakhtawari said many sectors of Pakistan’s economy offer good opportunities for joint ventures and investors and urged that Italian investors should transfer technology and explore business and investment opportunities in Pakistan.

Italian offcials said that Italy’s annual exports are over 700 billion euros and both countries should focus on diversification of trade to achieve better results.

They said Italy is providing advanced technology solutions and Pakistan can benefit its economy by developing close cooperation in this sector with Italy.

"Both countries should encourage business-to-business meetings to establish contacts between their private sectors and explore new areas of bilateral trade," they added. They said that Italy holds trade fairs and exhibitions regularly and emphasized that the Pakistani business community should participate in them to improve business relations between the two countries.