PR (Islamabad)- A sound and dynamic 'economic diplomacy' is inevitable for politico-economic stability of the country, which will ensure country's economic strength in the time of recent crisis, stated Mr. Tariq Sayeed, President, SAARC CCI and former President, FPCCI while responding to the Presidential order for establishing Economic Diplomacy Wing (EDW) at the Foreign Ministry to be headed by a senior officer.

"We are passing through an era of economic diplomacy, which not only defuses political tension between the nations but also helps to augment country's trade manifold" said Mr. Sayeed and appreciated President Zardari for his directive to establish Economic Diplomacy Wing (EDW) as an essential component of the foreign Policy.

Former President, FPCCI also appreciated the view point of the President Zardari about Private Sector representation in the proposed "Economic Diplomacy Task group" and said that the exercise of establishing such institutions will not be worthwhile and productive until and unless the Private Sector is not represented and consulted in policy-formulations mechanism. "Time has come to bring about change in the mindsets of the Government officials" said Mr. Sayeed and added that Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Commerce should encourage Private sector representation in Joint Ministerial Commissions".

Mr. Sayeed, also Chairman of Pak-Iran Business Council said that most of the Governments have changed their mindsets attuned to the requirements of Globalization referring that even the state-owned economies like Iran has changed its perception about Private Sector consultation in policy matters and added that Iranian State Minister for trade held a full-fledged meeting with the representatives of the Private Sector before attending D-8 Ministerial Conference, which helped him in formulating the policy paper for the meeting.

He also suggested for setting-up country and region specific sections in the proposed Economic Diplomacy Wing like ECO, SAARC, D-8 Wings and urged upon the need for devising out a strategic planning of the EDW in consultation with Private sector, which at present is unaware of the nature and objective of its formation. "Such institutions were also established in the past but could not achieve the desired results only because of improper presentation of Private Sector" added by Mr. Sayeed.

He suggested to the Government that nominees of 39 Joint Business Councils working under the umbrella of FPCCI should be invited to attend Ministerial Meetings and requested to the Government to help elevate the level of Joint Business Councils to Joint Chambers of Commerce & Industry with leading and potential trade partners of Pakistan . He further added that the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) had established 79 JBCs and 14 Joint Chambers of Commerce & Industry and 8 offices of FICCI in various countries including leading economies of Asia like China , Japan , Malaysia.
 
Former President, FPCCI said that it was the result of Private Sector's initiatives and economic diplomacy that political tension between China and India has been transformed into strong trade relations. " India and China have set target of bilateral trade to the tune of $ 60 billion by the end of 2010 while Pakistan , which enjoys best political relations with China has trade of only $ 6 billion" argued Mr. Sayeed.

He said that currently Pakistan had only one joint chamber i.e. Indo-Pak Chamber and he had already taken initiative for establishing Joint Chamber with China . In respect of establishing FPCCI offices abroad he said that FPCCI has planned to open its offices in China, Poland and Kenya, for which Government support will be required to operate these offices adequately.

He suggested to the Government for strengthening Commercial Sections in Pakistan 's Foreign Missions and asserted for establishing their close liaison with Diplomacy Wing and FPCCI to reap maximum benefits.