MULTAN City News

Opportunities awaiting Pak businessmen
in Netherlands: envoy
Says Pak armed forces have done a good job in North Waziristan
From Our Correspondent
MULTAN: Pakistan has a great potential for trade as exports from Pakistan to the Netherlands have registered an increase of 24 per cent during the last six months, said Dutch Ambassador Marcel de Vink.
Addressing the Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Saturday, he said that opportunities were awaiting the Pakistani businessmen in the fields of education, livestock and agriculture in the Netherlands. He said that the National Action Plan (NAP) to eliminate terrorism in the country had been delivering, but fight against terrorism needed more time in completely rooting out the problem. He said that Pakistan’s armed forces had done a good job in North Waziristan and across the country. He said: “It’s a tough fight and needs more encouragement to continue with zeal. The fight against terrorism is a long assignment.” The Dutch envoy said that the United States had helped Pakistan a lot in war on terror. The European Union wanted to build a strong democracy and parliament in Pakistan, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, MCCI president Mian Iqbal Hassan said that Europe was a third major trade partner of Pakistan with 16pc exports from Pakistan. He demanded the Dutch envoy establish the Netherlands commercial office in Multan to facilitate local industrialists and exporters. He also demanded the ambassador to set up the Holland Corner in the MCCI library. He said that the country had been trapped into energy crisis and the country needed assistance and help for low price power generation from local coal but the US and Europe were not interested to help by saying that it would damage the environment. According to the International Energy Agency, the US was generation 41pc power from coal, China 45pc, India 79pc, Australia 87pc, Germany 78pc, South Africa 93pc and Pakistan just 0.24pc, he added.