BRASILIA: Brazil is the 7th largest economy of the world with lot of experience and expertise in various fields and it was ready to cooperate with Pakistan in overcoming its problems in energy, agriculture and other sectors, observed Brazilian Ambassador Claudio Raja Gabaglia Lins.
He was addressing the business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) on Monday. He said Brazil has annual bilateral trade of $78 billion with China, $11 billion with India and now it was interested to improve trade volume with Pakistan, as it provides great potential for business.
He said Pakistan and Brazil have been negotiating for a long time to set up a Pak-Brazil Chamber of Commerce and desired that its establishment should be expedited soon, which would help in promoting business linkages and improve bilateral trade between the two countries.
“Brazil was going to host the Olympics next year and it was a good opportunity for the Pakistani businessmen and people to visit Brazil and explore business and people-to-people contacts. The Embassy of Brazil will facilitate Pakistani entrepreneurs in visiting the country,” he added.
In his welcome address, ICCI President Atif Ikram Sheikh said that despite existence of bilateral trade agreement between Pakistan and Brazil since 1982, the volume of bilateral trade was not in commensurate with the available potential. Its main reason was that both countries were doing trade in a limited number of items, he added.
He said many Pakistani products, including handmade carpets, towels and bed linen, quality onyx handicrafts and basmati rice have good potential in the Brazilian market. He said both countries could increase bilateral trade in many other areas including meat products, agriculture machinery and products, spices, juices, tea, coffee, auto parts, textiles, leather goods, granites, sports goods, fans and wood handicraft. He urged for frequent exchange of trade delegations to explore new areas of mutual cooperation.
ICCI Senior Vice President Sheikh Pervez Ahmed and Vice President Sheikh Abdul Waheed said Brazil should reconsider its high duty structures and strict regulations for import of health and other products so that more Pakistan products could get better access to the Brazilian market. They said Brazilian investors should share expertise, transfer technology and set up production plants in Pakistan in areas of interest, as Pakistan offered great investment opportunities in various sectors of its economy.
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