The Ambassador of Republic of Poland Maciej Pisarski has said that trade between Pakistan and Poland has improved little bit to US$722 million and it was largely in favor of Pakistan by US$600 million mainly due to intensification of Pakistani exports of textiles, leather and sports goods to Poland within the framework of GSP Plus.
“It is a challenge for me to deal with Poland’s trade deficit with Pakistan hence, I’ll be exploring ways and means of how to reduce this deficit by improving Polish exports to this country. As potential is there so we need to do more to improve the existing trade and investment ties which is very important”, he added while speaking at a meeting during his visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
Honorary Consul General of Poland Mirza Omair Baig, President KCCI Mohammed Tariq Yousuf, Senior Vice President Touseef Ahmed, Vice President Muhammad Haris Agar and KCCI Managing Committee Members were also present at the meeting.
Polish Ambassador, while appreciating KCCI’s suggestions to improve trade and investment ties, advised the business community of Karachi to look forward to Poland for investment as it was a place where foreign investors can set up their business operations and operate throughout the entire Europe.
He informed that a Polish Oil & Gas Exploration Company, which has been successfully operating in Pakistan since last 25 years, has been able to extract tight gas from the rock formations by applying latest technologies. “This company is interested in doing more hence, they are applying for additional concessions so that they could expand their operations to extract indigenous Pakistani gas which is sold to the domestic market only and is four times cheaper than the imported LNG.”
He was of the opinion that the agriculture, textile, leather, pharmaceutical and dairy sectors were very important where the business communities of the two countries can collaborate while Poland can also offer interesting technologies in the banking sector, fintech, digital security, drones, smart cities and all other things which were related to the new era of digitalization.
Referring to the climate change and the recent flashfloods suffered by Pakistan, the Envoy said that Poland can offer cutting edge technologies for water management and renewable energy. “We have great potential but we need to sit together to identify those sectors where opportunities are the greatest”, he added and appreciated the idea of setting up a joint business forum.
He also assured Polish Embassy’s complete support and cooperation for connecting Karachi Chamber with its peer Chambers of Commerce in Poland by facilitating seminars and workshops to bring together business people, to know each other and identify priorities.
Earlier, President KCCI Mohammed Tariq Yousuf, while welcoming the Ambassador, pointed out that the existing trade volume between Pakistan and Poland was still very low which needs to be expanded through collective efforts from both sides. While seeking Polish Embassy’s support and cooperation, he suggested to establish a joint business forum to not only promote business-to-business interactions but also explore possibilities of undertaking joint ventures in areas of interest including agriculture, textile, leather, food and pharmaceutical sector in addition to the energy sector. “Pakistan despite being one of the largest producers of milk and its by-products has not been able to add value to its dairy products therefore, keeping in view the Polish expertise in the dairy sector, you can help us in value addition of our dairy products”, he added and invited the Polish business community to set up businesses in Special Economic Zones being established under CPEC.
“Pakistan and Poland must also collaborate in Education & Research, Home Textiles and Gas Exploration whereas Pakistan’s skilled and semi-skilled labor force can also be provided to Poland”, he suggested, adding that there was a need to develop linkages between universities of both countries which would result in improving the quality of education and research work whereas commencement of direct flights between the two countries would also pave way for improved business ties.
Keeping in view the geo-strategic position of Pakistan, President KCCI advised the Polish business community to have joint ventures in Pakistan which would certainly give them an easy and very cost-effective access to the middle eastern markets.