Polish envoy urges Pakistan to increase bilateral trade

KARACHI: Trade between Pakistan and Poland has reached $722 million on the back of intensified Pakistan’s exports, which can further be enhanced by improving trade and investment ties, ambassador of Republic of Poland Maciej Pisarski on Thursday said.

Speaking to a meeting with members of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the envoy said around $600 million in trade between the two countries were from Pakistan side.

“It is a challenge for me to deal with Poland’s trade deficit with Pakistan. I will be exploring ways and means of how to reduce the deficit by improving Polish exports to Pakistan,” Pisarski said. He added that there was potential to improve the existing trade and investment ties.

Honorary Consul General of Poland Mirza Omair Baig, KCCI president Mohammed Tariq Yousuf, senior vice president Touseef Ahmed, vice president Muhammad Haris Agar, and KCCI managing committee members were also present at the meeting.

The Polish ambassador, while appreciating KCCI’s suggestions to improve trade and investment ties, advised the business community to look forward to Poland for investment, saying foreign investors could set up their business operations in Poland and operate throughout the entire Europe.

He informed that a Polish oil and gas exploration company, which has been successfully operating in Pakistan since last 25 years, was able to extract tight gas from the rock formations by applying latest technologies.

“The 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.”

The ambassador was of the opinion that the agriculture, textile, leather, pharmaceutical, and dairy sectors were important, where the business communities of the two countries could collaborate. “Poland can also offer interesting technologies in the banking sector, fintech, digital security, drones, smart cities, and all other things, which are related to the new era of digitalisation.”

Referring to the climate change and the recent flash floods suffered by Pakistan, the envoy said the Polish country could 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.

The envoy 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.

KCCI president Mohammed Tariq Yousuf pointed out that the existing trade volume between the two countries was low and needed to be expanded through collective efforts from both sides. He proposed 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. Keeping in view the Polish expertise in the dairy sector, you can help us in value addition of our dairy products.”

Yousuf invited the Polish business community to set up businesses in special economic zones being established under China–Pakistan Economic Corridor. He was of the view that Pakistan and Poland should collaborate in education, research, home textiles, and gas exploration. Skilled and semi-skilled labour force could also be provided to Poland, he suggested.

KCCI president advised the Polish business community to have joint ventures in Pakistan, saying it would give them an easy and cost-effective access to the Middle Eastern markets.