FAISALABAD, Pakistan: The ambassador of Belarus Andrei Ermolovich has said that efforts have been launched to enhance the trade volume between Pakistan and Belarus to US$1 billion and the central banks of both countries have already inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard.
While addressing the members of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) in Faisalabad on Thursday, the Belarusian ambassador appreciated the role of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko for good diplomatic and economic relations between the two countries.
The ambassador said that Belarus was organising an agricultural and textile fair during this year and Pakistani exporters must participate in it. He termed the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) a prestigious and world class educational and research institution and said that Belarus wanted to sign MoUs between the UAF and the National Textile University (NTU) with respective universities of his country.
The Belarusian envoy said that in Pakistan only 10 per cent cultivation is made through machines and with enhanced use of agricultural appliances, Pakistan could increase its productivity manifolds.
Jurabek Kirgizbekov, a representative of Belarus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that his country could help Pakistan produce powdered milk, ice-cream, yogurt, animal husbandry and canned products.
Jurabek Kirgizbekov said that Belarus was included in five countries alliance which had no well marked boundaries. He said that Pakistani exporters could establish their warehouses in Belarus and from there they could make exports to the surrounding countries without any additional customs duty or taxes.
Similarly, the visa issued by one country is also acceptable in all the five countries. Hence, we have to take extra care while issuing visas for Belarus.
Earlier, in his welcome address, the FCCI President Engineer Muhammad Saeed Sheikh said that Pakistan and Belarus were enjoying good diplomatic and economic relations.
The FCCI President said that volume of the bilateral trade was around $63.6 million during 2016. Pakistan made exports worth $13.28 million to Belarus while imports from Belarus stood at $50.28 million during the same period. Thus the balance of trade is in favor of Belarus, he added.
Muhammad Saeed stressed the need for exchange of trade delegations and regular Organisation of exhibitions to give a quantum jump to the bilateral trade.
The FCCI President called upon the Belarus government to allow Pakistani exporters to establish their ware houses in Belarus.
The president asked the ambassador to facilitate the FCCI trade delegation to Belarus for an extensive interaction with his Country’s business community.
Two separate documentaries of FCCI and Belarus were shown while FCCI shields were also presented to Andrei Ermolovich, Madam Tatiana Kazimirskaya and Jurabek Kirgizbekov.
