In his speech, the LCCI President Mian Shafqat Ali threw light on various issues need to be tackled on priority basis for the promotion of trade and investment. He termed this event as a historic.
Active engagement of the business community, frequent exchange of economic and trade delegations to identify the areas of mutual interest, arranging of single country exhibitions and exchange of information between countries are considered to be effective tools of growing together.
The LCCI President said that there has been progressive increase in the trade between Pakistan as exports to UK registered an increase from $580 million in 1999-00 to $893.5 million in 2004-5. Pakistan's major exports to UK consist of cotton yarn, textile products, fish, sports goods, rice, leather & leather products, fruits & vegetables.
On the other hand, U.K's exports to Pakistan had also increased from US$ 356 million in 1999-00 to US$ 532.1 million in 2004-5. Major imports from UK consist of industrial machinery, power generation machinery, pharmaceutical products, chemical materials, iron & steel, telecommunication appliances & equipment, professional instruments etc. There is a greater need to enhance the trade between the two countries.
Talking about Foreign direct investment, the LCCI Senior Vice President Abdul Basit said that it had marginally increased from $ 169 million in 1999-00 to US$ 181.5 million in 2004-5. He said Pakistan's foreign investment policy had been characterized with liberalization, deregulation and privatization.
Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry
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