ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The US ambassador to Pakistan David Hale has said that Pakistan is lucrative for investment, adding that US businesses are interested in investing in Pakistan.
In a meeting with the Federal Commerce Minister Pervaiz Malik in Islamabad on Tuesday, the US ambassador said that Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) is the key and Pakistan is making good use of it.
Pervaiz Malik said that Pakistan and the United States have cordial trade relations, and bilateral trade between the two Countries stood at $6 billion during the last Fiscal Year 2016-17.
The Commerce Minister said that the trade relations between the two Countries are governed by Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) which was signed in 2003 and covers Pak-US GSP Programme and US-Pakistan Business Opportunities Conference (BOC).
The minister said that BOC is a government-to-government arrangement and Pakistan is preparing to host fifth BOC.
Pervaiz Malik said that Pakistan is also looking forward to further improve bilateral trade with Afghanistan and facilitate the transit trade.
“Pakistan is looking forward to holding the 7th APTTCA (Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Coordination Authority (APTTCA)) meeting which was scheduled on September 10- 11, 2017 but was unilaterally postponed by the Afghan side”, the minister added.
The Commerce Minister said that the United States should extend cooperation to Pakistan in different sectors particularly agriculture.
The US envoy said that BOC will help Pakistan in building awareness of the US businesses, and will result in sector wise discussion and cooperation.
Earlier, the European Union (EU) Ambassador to Pakistan Jean Francois Cautain also met the Commerce Minister Pervaiz Malik, and discussed matters of mutual interest.
