LAHORE:A 50-member ASEAN business delegation, led by Mufti Hamka Hassan, Vice Chairman
of Middle East Committee, visited Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) on
Wednesday.
The delegation consists of the members of 10 ASEAN countries including Indonesia,
Malaysia, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Brunei Darussalam.
LCCI Acting President Zafar Mahmood Chaudhry, TDAP (Trade Development Authority
Pakistan) Director General Muhammad Naseer, former LCCI President Muhammad Ali
Mian, Executive Committee Members also spoke on the occasion.
The delegation members hold B2B (business to business) meetings with their Pakistani
counterparts.
Mufti Hamka Hassan, Vice Chairman of Middle East Committee and Leader of ASEAN
Business Delegation said that since 1990s the ASEAN members and Pakistan had made
number of efforts to go to new heights of trade relations but not much implementation
of the concepts had been done. “We need to start concrete measures to revitalize
what we perceive as beneficial for the ASEAN countries.”
He continued by emphasizing on sharing the experiences of ASEAN countries with each
other to move forward particularly in the areas of Islamic Banking, Insurance and Food
Processing etc. “As we have seen that many manufacturing entities have gone beyond
their countries of origin as we can take the example of Proton that has opened its automobile
unit in Karachi,” he cited.
Mufti Hamka Hassan said that one thing which is pertinent in the case of manufacturing that
it could not be a domestic issue anymore but a cross border concept. In the case of Pakistan,
he said, it is an important country for exports and import as Pakistan had a significant exports
of sea food and many other items and to streamline the ASEAN trade, we need to explore
new avenues such as FTAs between the ASEAN nations.
He said that the second area of interest was the tourism sector which had immense potential
and where Pakistan and ASEAN countries could develop. Pakistan had very attractive
destinations to visit as do the whole region because we have a long and rich civilization.
He said that in this regard more information should be shared between the ASEAN countries
and the people to people contacts were significant.
Mufti Hamka Hassan said that China Pakistan Economic Corridor which was an important
project for Pakistan and subsequently for the ASEAN countries as well as all ASEAN countries
have very good terms with the Chinese and could benefit from the CPEC because it was
a gateway to the landlocked regions.
He said: “We all know that SMEs are crucial and are an important subject where there is
the room to develop and benefit the sectors like tourism, food and artificial intelligence.”
LCCI Acting President Zafar Mahmood Chaudhry said, “We are well aware of the global
economic importance of ASEAN.”
ASEAN member states have population of 650 million people and a combined GDP in excess
of 3 Trillion Dollars, making it one of the largest economic blocs in the world. The bloc had
played a central role in economic integration through various trade agreements with external
partners and had transformed itself as a major trade hub, both within the region and globally.
He said that the global exports of ASEAN were in excess of 2 Trillion Dollars and its global imports
were around 1.87 Trillion Dollars. There was a tremendous potential for Pakistan to enhance
its trade relations with ASEAN. Pakistan’s exports to ASEAN are merely 1.58 Billion Dollars
while our imports from ASEAN are around 8.96 Billion Dollars. Pakistan has already signed
Free Trade Agreement with Malaysia and the same was in process with Indonesia.
Zafar Mahmood Chaudhry that he being the President of Pakistan Indonesia Business Forum
which also had the honour of having the Ambassador of Indonesia as the Patron in Chief – have
been contributing a lot in this connection especially ensuring the interests of private sector.
“I myself took many business delegations to Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. We are really
keen to make the best use of these agreements especially focusing on enhancing the exports
of Pakistan”, LCCI Acting President added.
He said that this scenario indicates that there was an urgent need to identify potential areas
for enhancing trade with ASEAN countries. The private sector in Pakistan needs handholding
from our respective counterparts.
He said: “We will also like to initiate discussions on Free Trade Agreements, especially as
ASEAN”. This will certainly help Pakistan having better market access to these leading ASEAN
economies. In return, ASEAN countries can make the best use of Pakistan market which population
size is reaching 250 million. If I add the population of Afghanistan, then it collectively become
a market of almost 300 million people. There is also a need of improving connectivity between
Pakistan and ASEAN countries through direct flights and also by improving the shipping links.
He said that Pakistan’s sectors like textiles, pharmaceuticals, sports goods, surgical instruments,
agricultural machinery were doing really well since long. Pakistan can offer you good quality
and cheap price in these sectors. “I would emphasize on initiating Joint Ventures in these
sectors so that there can be win-win situation for all of us.”
The LCCI Acting President said that the digital revolution was having a profound impact on
the ASEAN countries. According to a recent google-led report, the ASEAN digital economy
was on track to grow to 1 trillion dollars by 2030. Information Technology sector is also a
vibrant sector of Pakistan’s economy. Moreover, Pakistan is one of the top 10 IT exporting
countries in the world.