ISLAMABAD: President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari on Saturday said that the current bilateral trade volume of around one billion euros between Pakistan and Italy is not matching with the actual potential of both countries and efforts should be made to double it as both countries have the potential to do trade in many more items.
These views were expressed by him while talking to Augusto Palmieri, First Secretary of the Embassy of Italy and Salvatore Parano, Director, Italian Trade Agency during their visit to ICCI.
Ahsan Bakhtawari said that both countries should work to develop strong business linkages between their private sectors to explore all untapped areas of bilateral cooperation. He said that many sectors of Pakistan’s economy offer good potential for joint ventures and investors and stressed that Italian investors should transfer technology and explore business and investment opportunities in Pakistan.
Speaking on the occasion, Augusto Palmieri, First Secretary of the Embassy of Italy, and Salvatore Parano, Director, Italian Trade Agency said that Italy’s annual exports are over 700 billion euros and both countries should focus on diversification of trade to achieve better results.
They said that Italy is providing advanced technology solutions and Pakistan can benefit its economy by developing close cooperation in this sector with Italy. They said that both countries should encourage B2B meetings to establish contacts between their private sectors and explore new areas of bilateral trade. They said that Italy holds trade fairs and exhibitions regularly and stressed that the Pakistani business community should participate in them to improve business relations between the two countries.
Faad Waheed Senior Vice President and Engr. Azhar ul Islam Zafar Vice President ICCI assured that the Chamber would like to work with the Italian Trade Agency to explore new areas for increasing bilateral trade between the two countries.
Zafar Bakhtawari, former President ICCI and Secretary General UBG Pakistan said that ICCI intends to organize a Pak-Italy Business Forum in January next year to highlight the potential areas of business cooperation between the two countries and said that the Italian embassy should cooperate to make it successful.
Ameer Hamza, Raja Muhammad Abbasi, Muhammad Shabbir, Ch. Muhammad Ali, Sheikh Muhammad Ejaz, and others were also present on the occasion.
