…As the US Diplomat promises to remove all obstacles in the way of visit of Pakistani businessmen and investors in the US
PAKISTAN: The United States diplomate on Friday said that US-Pakistan enjoying a cordial trade relationships as United States import more than dollars 5billion Pakistani goods every year which surpassing any other country round the world in this categary.
The United states counselor for Commercial Affairs Nathan Seifert
said this during his meeting held here. Both sides discussed trade-ties between Pak-US with member board of investors and trade (KPBOIT) former convener of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industries for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia Shahid Khan Shinwari.
Nathan Seifert invited the Pakistani traders to visit the United Statss and take advantages of the US experties.
The meeting discussed Pakistan-US trade ties and exchange of visits of Pakistani businessmen to the United States to have business-to-business meetings with different companies for extending trading ties and to get benefits from the US expertise in fields of business.
Ayaz Ali Khan, Commercial Specialist of the US embassy in Islamabad was also present at the meeting.
The diplomate was told that the main products that Pakistan exports to the United States were house linens, knitted sweaters and other clothing articles.
Shahid Khan said that during the last 25 years the exports of Pakistan to the United States has increased at an annualized rate of 4.79%, from dollar1.26 billion in 1995 to dollar 4.04 billion in 2020. He said the United States was also one of the top trading partners of Pakistan.
He said Pakistan import aluminum, aircraft, spacecraft, dairy products, honey, edible products and manmade staple fibers from the United States.
Nathan said that they work closely with Pakistan on a wide array of issues ranging from energy, trade and investment, health, clean energy and combating the climate crisis.
He said the United States has been one of the largest sources of foreign direct investment in Pakistan and remains Pakistan’s largest export market.
The US diplomate said trade and investment relations between the United States and Pakistan continue to grow and the US government supports Pakistan by organizing business to business trade delegations, providing technical assistance and promoting business opportunities for US companies to develop US-Pakistan commercial partnerships.
He said for more than 70 years, Pakistan has been an important partner and that is why they want that the businessmen of Pakistan including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should come up to various trade expos for interaction with various US companies for expanding their business sphere.
Nathan Seifert said direct communications with companies based in the US would help them learn more about expanding their businesses.
He said Pakistan was the fifth largest country in the world with regard to population and ranked as the 44th largest economy in 2022 according to Internationa Monitory Funds(IMF) estimates. He said the United States has long been Pakistan’s largest export market – importing more than 5 billion dollars of Pakistani goods in 2021, far surpassing any other country. He added that Tthe United States has also been a leading investor in Pakistan for the past 20 years.
The US diplomate said In the most recent fiscal year, US direct investment in Pakistan increased by 50 percent whuch was the highest figure in the last decade.
He said major US investments concentrated in consumer goods, chemicals, energy, agriculture, business process out-sourcing, transportation and communications.
He said the United States has sought to deepen commercial ties with Pakistan engaging senior officials from the US department of Commerce, department of State and the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) with Pakistani leaders.
He however said Pakistan’s business climate has areas that needed to be strengthened, including regulation, intellectual property protection and taxation.
The United States continues to work with Pakistan to achieve business climate enhancements.
Nathan said it was a good opportunity for the Pakistani businessmen to visit and interact with leading companies of the world and through that way it would help Pakistan-US to deepen trade ties.
Nathan Seifert and Shahid Khan Shinwari, CEO of Shahid and Brothers pledged to strengthen trade ties and business-to-business contacts to enhance the bilateral trade volume.
The two sides discussed a wide array of issues to foster bilateral trade and investment. Moreover, both talked about boosting cooperation in lubricant, energy, agriculture, textile and healthcare sectors as well as promotion of digital trade and e-commerce.
Protection of intellectual property, promotion of labors’ rights and economic empowerment of women also came under discussion.
The US Diplomat assured Shahid Khan Shinwari to remove all obstacles in the way of visit of Pakistani businessmen and investors in the US besides a guideline would also be provided to other leading businessmen and companies who want to strengthen and expand business, trade and investment ties.
Shahid Khan Shinwari thanked Nathan Seilfert for his efforts to support and help the businessmen in expanding trade and investment ties with the US and taking advantage of available business opportunities.
