‘Plenty of room to improve trade’

KARACHI: The Ambassador of Sweden, Tomas Rosander has underscored the need for collective efforts to deal with lack of knowledge about the potential of Pakistan.

Exchanging views during his visit to Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Thursday, he advised the business and industrial community of Karachi to focus on diversifying their exports as there was plenty of room for improving trade with Sweden.

Referring to substantial improvement in the security situation of Pakistan, the Ambassador said, “All we need to do now is to bring maximum foreign companies here and we have been encouraging Swedish companies to visit Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad.”

Swedish Ambassador further said that they recognise Karachi as the hub of economic activities, thus, the input provided by the business and industrial community was very important to Sweden.

KCCI President Younus Muhammad Bashir pointed out that during the fiscal year 2015, Pakistan’s exports to Sweden stood at $149.56 million as against $138.94 million, showing an increase of 7.6 percent.

On the import side, an increase of 80 percent was witnessed during the fiscal, where Pakistan imported goods from Sweden worth $372.88 million as against imports of $206.59 million in the same period last year, he added.