Pak traders urged to tap huge Malaysian potential

LAHORE: Pakistan High Commissioner to Malaysia M Nafees Zakaria has urged Pakistani businessmen to evolve strategy to tap huge potential that exists in Malaysia, a statement said on Saturday.

During a visit to the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), he said all-out efforts would be made to turn Pakistan mission in Malaysia into a match-making point for the business community of the two countries.

He said he would also utilise Malaysian media to highlight the soft image of Pakistan, as in today’s world media is a strong tool to propagate information.

LCCI president Malik Tahir Javed said that the trade analysis between the two countries shows that in the last three years, “we could not bring any improvement in our exports to Malaysia”.

For instance, he said, in 2014, the volume of Pakistan exports to Malaysia was $234 million, which reduced to $186 million and $152 million in the next two years.

In contrast, imports from Malaysia to Pakistan increased in 2015 from $911 million to $945 million.

The LCCI president said the balance of trade had always been in favour of Malaysia. Over the last five years, this gap is constantly closing, but still the total imports from Malaysia are six times of exports to Malaysia.

He said Malaysia and Pakistan had already signed a free trade agreement, which came into effect in January 2008.