Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry hosted a dinner in the honour of 13 members trade delegation headed by Zainuddin Ahmed Jalil, Trade Commissioner of Malaysia for Pakistan. Anjum Nisar, President KCCI welcomed the delegation and Consul General of Malaysia and expressed gratitude towards better relationship among the Governments and people of both Pakistan & Malaysia.

He informed about the role of KCCI towards promotion of trade & business activities at national & international level. He asserted to properly explore the bilateral trade potential in the light of Pak-Malaysia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed in Nov., 2007. In the FTA, Pakistan was given market access to Malaysia on basic raw material, intermediate goods and machinery while it has obtained access for its core export products like fruits and vegetables, seafood, beverages, confectionary, horticulture, dairy products, rice, kinno, biscuits, gems & jewellery, cotton yarn, fabric, blankets, bed linen, other home textile products and tents & tarpaulins, medicaments & surgical instruments, etc.,

Pakistani Exports increased from USD 50.67 million in 2000-01 to USD 96.91 million in 2007-08 which shows an increase of 91.25% whereas Malaysian imports increased from USD 429.24 million in 2000-01 to USD 1,574.38 million in 2007-08, which showed increase of 266.78 percent, he added. He articulated that there were ample goodwill for expansion of trade & establishment of joint ventures in various industrial sectors, vis-à-vis, Ship Breaking, Pharmaceuticals, Palm oil refining, Food processing, Sports goods, Construction sector materials. He also focused for outsourcing of Pakistani qualified professionals in the field of engineering, health & medicine.

He stated that Karachi City offer immense opportunities for investment in infrastructure projects, in manufacturing, consumer goods production as well as in the capital markets. He urged on the need for frequent exchange of delegations and holding of single country exhibitions. Malaysia could take advantage of Gwadar Port to establish production base in Pakistan & tap the huge, largely untapped market of South Asia, Central Asia & Middle East, he added.

H.E. Mr. Muhammad Khalid Abdur Razzak, Consul General of Malaysia expressed that Malaysia & Pakistan were enjoying excellent relations in trade, economic, social & other fields since last 52 years. He informed that last year Malaysian Trade volume was about 451 billion including 15.7% trade of halal food. He said the some foreign electronic media had spread biased reports about the perception of Pakistan as an unstable country and Pakistan should make efforts to improve its image abroad to attract foreign investors. He stated that Malaysian Business visa can be obtained in 3 days via email.

H.E. Mr. Zainuddin Ahmed Jalil, Trade Commissioner of Malaysia, Consul General of Malaysia said that Malaysian investors were keen to invest in the services & logistics sector in Pakistan. He added that Malaysian had a population of 27 million out of which 35 percent were associated with service sector. He highlighted about the demand of Pakistani rice, seafood, textile products, fruits in Malaysia and advised to increase its trade potential. However, Malaysian trade circles were interested to enhance trade of edible oil, rubber products, pharmaceuticals, leather products & halal food products, he added. He informed that the Trade Commission was very active for support & assistance to businessmen of both sides and reply the inquires within one week via emails.