‘Pak expatriates in UK keen to make investments’

[LahoreEstate]

Staff Report

LAHORE: Expatriate Pakistanis, particularly those living in the United Kingdom, are keen to make investment in Pakistan through joint ventures with their potential businessmen.

Vice President UK-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ishtiaq Ahmad expressed these views while speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Monday. President LCCI Mian Muzaffar Ali and Senior Vice President Tahir Javaid Malik also spoke on the occasion.

Ahmad, while stressing the need for more interaction between the two sides, urged the LCCI office-bearers to arrange a delegation to UK to increase the volume of two-way trade.

He said that UK, being the fastest growing economy in the European Union, has a huge potential for Pakistani businessmen to have joint ventures with their counterparts there.

He said that the process of globalisation is bringing the people closer and there is a need to learn from the experiences of each other.

LCCI president said that there was no doubt in it that the UK offers tremendous opportunities to Pakistani businessmen but both the sides need well-directed, sector-specific moves to achieve the desired results.

He said that exchange of business delegations and holding of single country exhibitions could boost the bilateral trade. These marketing tools need to be studied by the chambers and the diplomatic missions of the two countries.

He said that these are the areas where UK-Pakistan entrepreneurs could sit together and chalk out a comprehensive business strategy for their mutual benefits. Keeping in view the current low level of trade between UK and Pakistan there is a need for more focused efforts for expanding economic cooperation.

Ali invited the Pakistanis living in the UK to make investment the fields of IT, telecommunications, infrastructure development, education, and food preservation technologies.

The LCCI SVP said that the visit would prove beneficial for both the sides. He said that there are a lot of opportunities waiting for the potential investors particularly in the fields of textile and leather.

He said that the increase in total foreign private investment is enough to prove that Pakistan has a lot to offer and the foreign investors should take advantage of the situation.

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