Malaysian Consul General calls for visa-free regime

[S.Y.A]

Malaysian Consul General calls for visa-free regime

By:
Staff Report


24-Feb-17

Karachi: Consul General of Malaysia, Ismail Bin Mohamad Bakri, has underscored the need for a visa-free regime between Pakistan and Malaysia in order to effectively promote people-to-people and business-to-business contacts between the two countries.

Sharing his views with the Chairman of Pakistan Soap Manufacturers Association, (PSMA), Abdullah Zaki, Senior Vice Chairman PSMA, Muhammad Ali Zia, and other PSMA members during his visit to the PSMA Office, the Malaysian CG said that a visa-free regime will bring people closer to each other, enhance existing trade ties, and definitely create a win-win situation for both countries.

Commenting on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the Malaysian Consul General stressed the need to revisit the existing FTA because more products and commodities have to be incorporated in the FTA; keeping in view the prevailing circumstances. He believed that Pakistan has emerged as a good trading partner for Malaysian suppliers who were keen to expand their businesses with their Pakistani counterparts and the CG was optimistic that opportunities to further enhance trade ties between the two countries will continue to expand in different sectors of the economy, resulting in strengthening of the existing trade ties between Pakistan and Malaysia.

Earlier, Chairman Abdullah Zaki, while welcoming the Malaysian Consul General, said that Malaysia and Pakistan have been enjoying cordial relations and numerous commodities, particularly edible oils, which were currently being traded between the two countries. However, there was a dire need to diversify the existing product range being traded between the two nations.

Chairman PSMA said that the soap industry of Pakistan was looking forward to boost imports of raw materials from Malaysia which has to be facilitated by providing better opportunities under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

He shared that a visit of a PSMA delegation has already been finalized to attend POC-2017, scheduled to be staged in the first week of March 2017 in Kuala Lumpur.

Highlighting the overall structure of Pakistan's soap industry, Abdullah Zaki stated that around 650 factories were engaged in manufacturing soaps, of which up to 500 factories were operating in an disorganized manner while the remaining 150 factories were fully organized. All these factories were providing employment opportunities to more than 250,000 workers across Pakistan, where soap industry contributes a huge sum of Rs 18 billion in revenue to the national exchequer.

He further explained that production of laundry soap stood at around 500,000 tons, followed by 150,000 tons of toilet soap production, 50,000 tons of carbolic soap and also a huge production of 175,000 metric tons of detergent per annum.

He said that 80 percent of the raw material being used by the soap industry was being imported from different sources and the remaining 20 percent was being produced locally. Pakistani soap manufacturers prefer to use Palm Byproducts to manufacture the best quality Laundry & Toilet Soaps.

Commenting on the existing trade ties between Pakistan and Malaysia, Abdullah Zaki said that exports to Malaysia in 2016 stood at $144 million and its imports were around $825 million, which clearly depicts a huge trade gap which has to be addressed.

http://dailytimes.com.pk/business/24-Feb-17/malaysian-consul-general-calls-for-visa-free-regime