News Desk
ISLAMABAD: UK Deputy High Commissioner and Trade Director for Pakistan Sarah Mooney said on Wednesday that the United Kingdom was working to enhance trade and investment activities in Pakistan.
She was talking to the business community at Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), where LCCI President Kashif Anwar and Senior Vice President Chaudhry Zafar Mahmood also spoke.
She said, “The High Commission is researching to explore those products which could get significant success in the market in UK market and after identifying those products, we would get back to Pakistan’s business community.”
Sarah Mooney said that the devastating floods caused havoc and disaster in Pakistan and “I am very pleased to watch that the British citizens contributed about 100 million pounds for the flood relief efforts. The British government has a disaster relief fund and the citizens from UK are contributing to that fund”.
Boosting Pak, UK trade, Investment
She further said, “We have about 96 percent duty-free products coming from Pakistan and are now working on the rest. Education is our top priority and we want to collaborate with Pakistani institutions and boost cooperation, and we are also keen to assist education below the university level. The other areas where we are interested include sustainable growth, infrastructure development, green energy, healthcare, etc.”
The Deputy High Commissioner added, “We must go ahead to change the methods of partnership between Pakistan and United Kingdom which should be a genuine partnership where we bring investment and expertise to Pakistan and take benefit from the expertise in Pakistan.”
LCCI President Kashif Anwar said that Lahore Chamber had always attached great value to having friendly working relations with British High Commission for the sake of exploring ways to further strengthen mutual ties. He said that the United Kingdom had been one of the major trading partners of Pakistan and was currently the fourth most attractive and largest export market for Pakistani products.
Volume of Pak, UK investment
According to the State Bank of Pakistan statistics, he explained, Pakistan’s exports to UK were about US$2.2 billion in 2021-22 against US$2 billion in 2020-21. Meanwhile, imports from the United Kingdom were US$869 million in 2021-22 against US$780 million in 2020-21.
“Pakistan’s exports to the United Kingdom are dominated heavily by textiles. We are of the view that the bilateral trade volume, which currently stands about US$3 billion, should be taken to at least around US$10 billion,” he added.
He further said that that the devastating floods of 2022 affected 33 million people in Pakistan and over 1,700 people lost their lives. The total economic losses were estimated to be more than US$30 billion.
The sectors of housing, livestock, agriculture, and infrastructure suffered a major blow with substantial damages. He added that the LCCI was particularly concentrating on promoting SMEs with a special focus on women entrepreneurs. “We would certainly be glad to collaborate with British High Commission for attaining the desired results,” he concluded.
