LAHORE:Pakistan Consul General to Los Angeles Asim Ali Khan visited the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Friday to learn about the challenges, being faced by the business community in doing business with the United States of America (USA).
A meeting with LCCI President Kashif Anwar continued for about an hour, which was also attended by Senior Vice President Chaudhry Zafar Mahmood, Vice President Adnan Khalid Butt and Executive Committee Members.
The consul general said that the US was a significant and potential export market for Pakistan. The chambers of commerce were responsible for informing the consulate of what might be done to advance trade between the two countries.
The consul general said that the US was a huge market which was also called the land of opportunities. The Pakistan Consulate in Los Angeles would extend every possible help to Pakistani business community to explore trade and investment opportunities there, he promised. Asim Ali said that the consulate had the access to 10 states including California. He said that all embassies of Pakistan had a commercial counselor and the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) representatives. He said that the consulate would ensure B2B [business to business] liaison between the two countries. He said that the purpose of an embassy was that when the citizens of that country come there, they feel that they have an office there which could resolve their issues.
The LCCI president said that in the last two years, there had also been an improvement in imports from the US, which had increased from $2.5 billion in 2020-21 to $3.1 billion in 2021-22. He said that the volume of exports to the US could increase to at least $10 billion.
He said that Pakistan was in dire need of increasing its exports as its trade deficit had reached $17 billion in six months of the current financial year (Jul-Dec 2022).