ISLAMABAD - Dr Joao Paulo Marques Sabido Costa, chargé d’affaires, Embassy of Portugal, Thursday said that his country wanted to enhance trade ties with Pakistan as both countries have good potential to improve bilateral trade in many areas.
He stressed that Pakistan and Portugal should exchange trade delegations and promote B2B linkages to know each other and explore new areas of mutual cooperation. He was addressing business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Dr Joao Paulo Marques Sabido Costa said that being a hi-tech country, Portugal was ready to provide technology and machinery to Pakistan in many sectors including agriculture, textile, marble, water resources, building and constructions. He said Portugal was close to EU and Sub-Sahara and Pakistan should develop close cooperation with it to get better market access to European and African regions. He said Pakistani Basmati rice and food was quite popular in Portugal and Pakistan should focus on promoting more products to Portuguese market under GSP Plus scheme.
He said Portugal has offered a Golden Visa Program to attract investment in real estate sector and Pakistani investors should take benefit of this program. He said Portugal has PTAs with many countries and by investing in Portugal, Pakistani investors can promote exports to Europe, Africa, Canada and other regions. He said ICCI should form a delegation for Portugal to explore new business opportunities.
Speaking at the occasion, Sheikh Amir Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that trade volume between Pakistan and Portugal was not encouraging and stressed that both countries should promote strong connectivity between private sectors to identify untapped areas of mutual cooperation. He said Portugal should enhance the import of Pakistani products including textiles, garments, surgical instruments, sports goods, leather products, fruits & vegetables and other products to extend full benefits of GSP Plus to Pakistan.
He said Portugal has good expertise in energy generation through renewable sources and it should cooperate with Pakistan in easing its energy problems. He said both countries have good potential to exchange expertise in the fields of education, science and information technology while promotion of tourism would strengthen bilateral relations. He said Portugal was quite strong in high technology and it should cooperate with Pakistan to manufacture value added and hi-tech products.
Muhammad Naveed, Senior Vice President, and Nisar Mirza, Vice President, ICCI stressed for frequent exchange of trade delegations to identify new areas for bilateral cooperation. They said Portugal’s investors should visit Pakistan to explore joint ventures and investment in CPEC and in other sectors of Pakistan’s economy. Baser Daud, Tahir Ayub, Rashid Humayun and others also spoke at the occasion.
