Consul General of Malaysia Herman Hardynata Bin Ahmad has said that although trade volume between the two countries largely favoured Malaysia. Still, Pakistan’s share in bilateral trade was also improving as Malaysia increased its rice and frozen food purchases from Pakistan. “Malaysia’s exports to Pakistan mainly represent palm oil, but we are unable to completely fulfil Pakistan’s growing demand for palm oil even though we have been producing palm oil at our peak capacity. Malaysia is a small country, and we are limited in terms of palm oil production,” he added while speaking at a meeting during his visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI).

President KCCI Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh, Senior Vice President Altaf A. Ghaffar, Vice President Tanveer Ahmed Barry, Chairman Diplomatic Missions & Embassies Liaison Subcommittee Farooq Afzal, Former President Majyd Aziz and KCCI Managing Committee Members were also present on the occasion.

Malaysian CG also expressed his keenness to engage in a maximum number of meetings organised by the business community of Karachi, which were focused on strengthening trade and investment ties between Malaysia and Pakistan. “Last year, a Malaysian delegation came to Pakistan in September to explore new avenues of trade cooperation, and I will try to bring more such delegations to Karachi this year as well”, he added while appreciating the existing trade volume, especially the trade taking place from the Karachi region.

He said that both countries have been cooperating in trade and Defense, as Malaysia has been sending its defence officials for training in Pakistan, and Pakistani Officials from the armed forces were also being sent to Malaysia for training. “In addition to enhanced trade, there are many other opportunities in the tourism sector and capacity building in many other sectors of the economy.”

Appreciating KCCI for regularly holding meetings and maintaining excellent liaison with the Malaysian Consulate, he said that these kinds of engagements with the Karachi business community help highlight concerns and anything else relating to trade with Malaysia.

Earlier, President KCCI Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh, while welcoming the Malaysian CG, stated that Pakistan and Malaysia have strong and diversified bilateral economic relationships in various areas of mutual interest. “Despite strong brotherly ties, the bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Malaysia remains below its true potential as Pakistani exports to Malaysia currently stand at around $300 million in FY23, which need to be enhanced to a reasonable level.”

Underscoring the need to eliminate trade barriers, encourage ease of doing business and diversify products for economic cooperation, he said that effectively implementing a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) establishing a closer economic partnership between Pakistan and Malaysia could substantially enhance trade volume between the two countries. “It is imperative for Pakistan to pursue economic integration with the ASEAN block having a collective GDP of $3.6 trillion. This will open new avenues for strengthening ties and establishing institutional connections with individual ASEAN members and the collective group.” 

He believed that SIFC and CPEC, the powerful regional economic transformational tools to stimulate FDI, offer tremendous opportunities for Malaysian businesses to explore joint ventures and provide a robust avenue to strengthen and elevate economic relations between the two countries. “Pakistani-Malaysian companies could pursue joint ventures in various sectors such as agriculture, textile, foods, pharmaceutical, sports, footwear, leather, energy sectors, Islamic Finance, low-cost housing, infrastructure development, telecommunications, and education etc.”, he said, adding that collaborative efforts with Malaysia in training and capacity building of workers can contribute to an increase in remittances from Malaysia.