By Mr. Zahid Ali Abbasi, Commercial Counsellor, Embassy of Pakistan in The Hague.
With a population of around 200 million people, Pakistan is strategically located in South Asia in a very important economic neighbourhood, with energy rich Central Asian states on its Western border, huge economic markets like China and India in the North and East as well as an important coastal line to the South.
Owing to its prime location, China has recently committed 45 billion dollars of investments in Pakistan, mainly in the economic corridor which will be built from the Gawadar Port of Pakistan to China through the Silk route, a future economic game changer in the region.
Pakistan is one of the top ten producers in the world in commodities like cotton, wheat, rice, mangoes, oranges, and milk.
The Netherlands is a very important trading partner for Pakistan, being the fifth largest importer of Pakistani commodities in the EU and tenth largest importer overall for Pakistan. The bilateral trade between the two countries is around 1 billion dollars.
The Netherlands supported Pakistan in award of the GSP plus facility (duty free access status) in 2014 by the EU parliament. Consequently, trade between the two countries increased by 15% in 2014 alone.
The major exports from Pakistan are textile, garments, leather and sports goods, footwear, rice; whereas the major imports from the Netherlands are machinery, electrical and electronics equipment, pharmaceutical products, iron, steel, nickel, rubber, and plastics.
In the Development Cooperation, the focus of the Netherlands is now on trade. Therefore, Dutch Development Cooperation’s Institutions like CBI (Centre for promotion of exports from developing countries) and PUM (Netherlands Senior Experts Program) are playing an active role in enhancing Pakistani institutions in trade and investments.
The Netherlands is also among the top ten investors countries in Pakistan. The country has been home for major Dutch multinational companies like Shell, Unilever, Philips, Akzo Nobel, Macro, and Damn shipyards.
Since 2013, the trade wing of the Embassy of Pakistan led by Commercial Attaché Mr. Zahid Abbasi under the guidance of Ambassador of Pakistan, H.E Moazzam Ahmed Khan, has carried out various promotional trade events.
For example: a mango exhibition, football and rice promotion in private label exhibitions, participation in Amsterdam fashion week, NBI Investment Expo, sports goods exhibition during the Hockey World Cup, participation in the Hague Embassy Festival, and the organisation of seminars on GSP Plus, the textile sector and investment opportunities in Pakistan.
Essentially, we are thankful to Diplomat Magazine for giving us this opportunity to send a message not only to the diplomatic community but also to other important stake holders.
