ISLAMABAD – French Ambassador Marc Baréty, on Thursday, said that hiscountry wanted to improve trade ties with Pakistan as it was a potentialmarket for trade and investment.
He said that the 80 million strong middle class of Pakistan was anattractive market for French companies due to which they are taking moreinterest in Pakistan.
The ambassador stated that the current volume of bilateral trade was notreflective of the true potential of both countries and it could be furtherenhanced by strong efforts from both sides.
He was addressing the business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce &Industry.
The French Envoy said that Pakistan and France were trading in limiteditems and both should focus on diversification of trade to achieve betterresults.
He said that EU’s GSP Plus facility to Pakistan has enabled it to enhanceexports to the EU by 60%.
However, he added, that instead of relying on textile products, Pakistanshould focus on value-added agro-food products, medical appliances, dairyproducts, and others to further enhance its exports to the EU, includingFrance.
He said that renewable energy items, turbines for hydropower,pharmaceuticals, agriculture, energy, water, and helicopters were otherpotential areas of mutual cooperation between Pakistan and France.
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He said a “Doing Business in Pakistan” forum was held for French companiesin Dubai and another will be held in the near future to attract more Frenchcompanies to Pakistan. He assured that the French Embassy would assist thePakistani business community in doing business with France.
Speaking at the occasion, Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, IslamabadChamber of Commerce and Industry said that Pak-France bilateral trade in2017 was around €1.4 billion, which was not encouraging.
He said that both countries should focus on promoting business linkagesbetween private sectors to further improve the bilateral trade volume.
He said many Pakistani products including sports goods, surgicalinstruments, leather products, gloves of all sorts, textiles items, sportswears, uniforms & accessories, musical instruments, kitchenware, cutleryitems, and military uniform badges could find a good market in France andFrance should import these products from Pakistan.
Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice PresidentICCI said that Chamber would like to work closely with France Embassy forpromoting B2B contacts between private sectors of both countries in orderto further improve bilateral trade and economic relations between Pakistanand France.
They said that French investors should explore Pakistan for JVs andinvestment in various sectors of Pakistan’s economy.
