‘Pakistan should export value-added products’

Islamabad:Ambassador of Bosnia-Herzegovina Brig Gen (r) Sakib Foric, has said that Pakistan can use Balkans as a bridge by capitalising on the trade and investment opportunities in the Balkans, especially Bosnia, because other regional countries like India were not that focused on the region.

Brig Foric was addressing a Roundtable Discussion on ‘Regional ties: Balkans and South Asia’ organised by Institute of Regional Studies here Thursday.

Mr Foric asked Pakistanis to focus on value additions to their export commodities. He maintained that while Pakistani leather was very good, the Pakistani finished leather products like shoes and jackets were not trendy.

Appreciating Pakistan’s support to the Bosnian refugees during the Balkans war and supporting its UN mission in completing membership documentation of various UN bodies, he said that Pakistan was among the first few countries recognising Bosnia soon after its independence.

He said that there was very little Pakistani investment in Bosnia. He said that since Bosnia was an energy-surplus country and energy prices were low, it was a good destination for investment. He regretted that there were only 22 Pakistanis studying in Bosnian universities despite the fact that there were some very good universities in his country.

Mr Foric said that although Pakistan and Bosnia were negotiating a preferential trading agreement, no free trade agreement had been signed between the two countries, which had limited the trade potential of the two countries. He regretted that Bosnia and Pakistan only had 7 operational ratified agreements between them. He said that the market for Pakistani rice, mangoes and furniture in Bosnia could be explored by Pakistani traders. He said that another limiting factor in Pakistan-Bosnia economic relations was the lack of direct flights between the two countries.

Talking about his life in Pakistan, the Ambassador shared that he received tremendous affection from Pakistanis wherever he disclosed that he was from Bosnia. He expressed his profound appreciation for the hardworking spirit of Pakistanis and the remarkably beautiful tourist destinations in the country. He called for improving tourism infrastructure in Pakistan for further enhancing Pakistan’s international tourism potential.

He disclosed that Bosnia had attracted 1.8 million foreign tourists last year. He added that Bosnia had received a large amount of investment in residential real estate from Arab countries. He estimated the total number of homes built by Arabs in Bosnia in the last few years at more than 100,000. He opined that since the Middle Eastern summers were very hot, many Arabs had invested in real estate in Bosnia to visit in summers. He said that complete Arab villages had been established by investors from the Arab countries in the suburbs of Bosnian cities like in the capital Sarajevo.

Dr Rukhsana Qamber, President IRS, in her vote of thanks said that she had travelled to Bosnia and had found the Bosnian people very friendly toward foreign tourists.