‘Pakistan-Malaysia trade touched $2.8 billion last year’
Saturday, April 06, 2013
ISLAMABAD: Acting High Commissioner to Malaysia Mohammad Nadeem Khan on Friday said
bilateral trade between Pakistan and Malaysia continued to increase with two-way trade touching $2.8 billion last year.
Nadeem Khan said due to a huge trade gap, Pakistan hoped to increase export of its non-traditional items to Malaysia.
Pakistan can be a major source of raw material for Malaysian industry. We also hope to strengthen our cooperation in Islamic finance and banking sectors, he said.
He said the government was encouraged our people to people interaction was growing. There are now more than 3,000 Pakistani students in Malaysian educational institutions.
Khan said about a dozen memorandums of understandings have been signed establishing links between various universities of both the countries.
He said more than 70,000 Pakistanis visited Malaysia last year, adding Pakistan International Airlines has increased its flights to five per week, reflecting greater movement of people between the two countries. During last year Malaysia was Pakistan’s 25th largest export destination and fifth largest import source.
Bilateral trade saw a decline of about 24.81 percent last year and stood at $2.11 billion with exports from Pakistan amounting to $252.89 million and imports from Malaysia standing at around $1.86 billion and the trade is heavily skewed in favour of Malaysia, he added.
Pakistan’s major exports to Malaysia include fish, potatoes, onion, rice, maize, cotton yarn, and woven fabrics of synthetic staple fibre, bed linen and electrical apparatus for line telephones and parts and accessories.
Major exports to Pakistan include palm oil, electrical and electronic equipment, machinery, chemicals, rubber, wood, synthetic filament yarn, automatic data processing machine and parts and accessories. He said Malaysian investments in Pakistan have been mainly channelled into financial business, telecom and oil and gas exploration.
Since 2008 Malaysia’s investment in Pakistan have been worth about $898 million and on the other hand, Pakistan’s investment in Malaysia has been concentrated mainly in wood and wood products, food manufacturing, furniture and fixtures and chemical and chemical products.
From 1980 to 2010, Pakistan’s investment in Malaysia has been worth about $291 million.
The Lonely Planet Magazine said the tourism industry of Pakistan is ‘next big thing’ and there was so much to offer to visitors as Karakorum through the endless peak of the Karakorum mountains, through the architectural glories of Lahore, the ancient bazaars of Quetta or the cosmopolitan streets of Karachi.
Currently Pakistan has six major cultural sites that are categorised as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In 2009 the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report ranked Pakistan as one of the top 25 percent tourist destinations for its world heritage sites, he said.
He said ten of the 18 mammalian orders are present in Pakistan with species ranging from the world’s smallest mammal, the Mediterranean Pigmy Shrew, to the largest mammal ever known, the Blue whale. app
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan