Pakistan plays vital role in boosting regional trade: SAARC CCI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan plays a vital role in boosting trade, investment and businesses among the SAARC CCI member countries, an official said on Thursday.

SAARC CCI President Ruwan Edirisinghe said that South Asia has tremendous trade potential, which needs to be tapped with a shared vision of 2030 envisaged to address core trade issues and Pakistan’s role, in this regard, is vital, as no prosperity is possible without restoring peace in the region, a statement said.

The SAARC CCI president also felicitated Iftikhar Malik of United Business Group (UBG) for clean sweep in the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) elections and expressed the hope that under the dynamic leadership of the newly-elected President Daroo Khan Achakzai, Pakistan would strengthen trade relations with its neighbouring countries.

Explaining security and political barriers as the main challenges being faced by South Asian countries, he urged to celebrate the current successes instead of focusing on the issues.

As SAARC nations show improvement in terms of GDP growth, averaging at over 6.5 percent means SAARC countries have the highest rate of growing economies in the world, he said.

Edirisinghe also said that the biggest economies for the next two decades are supposed to be from Asia, which is a vital opportunity for South Asian countries.

The Asian economies, including China, Japan and India, are expanding and gearing up to capture world markets, which clearly indicates the importance of Asia in the global economy.

South Asia will play an important role in the future, particularly by materialising the vision of 2030, he added.

Iftikhar Ali Malik extended his gratitude to Edirisinghe for felicitating him on the victory of his group in the FPCCI elections and apprised him of the FPCCI role for the promotion of regional trade.

He also assured him full support from Pakistan to make SAARC Chamber of Commerce and

Industry a successful entity in the region.

“We will have to autonomously develop an agenda for South Asian cooperation, driven broadly by

economic concerns where we are seeking to take advantage of optimality and economic relations,” he added.

He emphasised on restructuring production and export processes to improve trans-boundary trade in South Asia.