PESHAWAR: Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry acting President Ijaz Khan Afridi invited Belgium companies to invest in mine, mineral and other important sectors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“Prospects of enhancing mutual trade ties between Pakistan and Belgium are brighter,” said Ijaz Afridi while speaking to Mr Charles Delogne and his delegates during their visit to the chamber’s house on Thursday.
Commercial Attaché in Belgium Embassy in Islamabad, Abid Hussain, Trade Officer Shoukat Niazi, former presidents of the chamber Zulfiqar Ali Khan, Sherbaz Bilour, former vice president Malik Niaz Muhammad, members of executive committee of the SCCI Naeem Qasmi, Kashif Amin, Hafaf Ali Khan, Javed Ahmad Khan, Laal Badshah, Monawar Khurshid, Abdul Hakim Shinwari, Qurtul Ain and Ihsanullah, Fazl e Wahid, Saddar Gul, Faiz Rasool, Ishtiaq Muhammad and others were present during the meeting.
The SCCI’s acting president stressed the need for business to business contacts, holding joint exhibitions and benefiting from each other’s experiences to further strengthen mutual economic cooperation between the two countries.
Charles Delogne while speaking to members of the SCCI said that his country gave much importance to Pakistan to further enhance the diplomatic and bilateral trade relations with Pakistan, because of which cordial diplomatic and trade relations were established between the two countries for the last 75 years.
He said bilateral cooperation has been improved to some extent after granting of GSP+status to Pakistan. However, the envoy stressed the need for further enhancing bilateral trade and economic relations with Pakistan.
Mr Delogne mentioned that his country is working on several social and economic uplift projects, including education, health and infrastructure sectors.
The diplomat praised the resilience of Pakistan’s nation for combating natural disasters, floods under the depressing economic conditions.
He said his country will continue its cooperation in multiple-sectors for the economic and social development of Pakistan.
On the occasion, Mr Delogne assured to simplify the process for business visa issue and will remove all hurdles/irritants in this regard.
Earlier, the SCCI’s former presidents Zulfiqar Ali Khan, Sherbaz Bilour and executive members pointed out various issues that were hampering bilateral trade and economic relations and gave a number of suggestions for their immediate solution.
The participants stressed for fully reaping benefits of GSP+status and further enhancing bilateral relations with Belgium and other European countries.
