Govt to promote trade with Italy

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Italy have vowed to remove bottlenecks in promotion of trade and agreed that the current level of bilateral trade and investment did not fully reflect the potential of their economies, a statement said on Wednesday.

The two countries also acknowledged the need to increase the total trade flows by facilitating market access and diversifying the range of goods and services.

This was decided during the third session of Pakistan-Italy Joint Economic Commission (JEC) organised by the Ministry of Economic Development, Italy, in Rome on January 29 and 30, it added. Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan, minister of state for finance, led the Pakistani delegation, while the Italian delegation was headed by Ivan Scalfarotto, deputy minister, Italian Ministry of Economic Development, it added.

The meeting also agreed to increase institutional collaboration, promote small and medium enterprises (SMEs) development and collaborate in other sectors such as livestock, energy, infrastructure, oil and gas, transport management and chemicals. Meanwhile, Pakistan and Italy signed three letters of intent (LoIs) for cooperation in textiles, footwear and stone sectors.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was also signed between Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC) and its Italian counterpart ConfidustriaMardomacchine.