ISLAMABAD – Malaysia and Pakistan through enhanced cooperation and jointinitiatives can advance in various social and economic fields.
Bilateral cooperation between the two countries is not only confined topolitical and economic spheres but also in other areas such as education,tourism, defense and technical assistance, said Malaysian Council GeneralKhairul Nazran Abd Rehman while talking to APP here Saturday.
Malaysia and Pakistan enjoyed warm and friendly relations since theestablishment of diplomatic relations in 1957, he said.
Both the countries shared similar position on regional and internationalissues through their common membership in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM),Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and G-77 organization. Inaddition, Pakistan is also a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN and amember of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).He said Pakistan had remained one of the Malaysia’s largest trading partneramong South Asian countries. The balance of trade has consistently been inMalaysia’s favour.
Both countries need to diversify goods beyond palm oil and cereals toincrease their trade.Malaysia and Pakistan signed Free Trade Agreement on 8 November 2007 inKuala Lumpur. It is Pakistan’s first comprehensive FTA for trade in goods,services.This was Malaysia’s first bilateral FTA with any South Asiancountry.
In 2017, the bilateral trade increased by 3.5% to dollars 1.34 billion fromdollars 1.34 billion in 2016.Pakistan had also emerged as an important market for palm kernel cake,which is used as an ingredient for animal feeds. In 2017, Pakistan imported0.3 million tones of palm Kernel cake and became the fourth largestimporter of the commodity after New Zealand, European Union and South Korea.
Malaysian Commercial Counselor said that Malaysia had been able to keep theprices of palm products competitive by increasing productivity.On May 28, 2007 Malaysia and Pakistan had signed a memorandum ofunderstanding on Cooperation in the Field of tourism. In 2017, touristarrivals from Pakistan figured 53,453—a decrease of 8.5% as compared to58,388 arrivals in 2016.
Malaysia hopes more tourists from Pakistan would choose Malaysia for theirholidays—APP