H.E. Georg Steiner, Ambassador of Switzerland to Pakistan said that many Swiss companies were doing successful business in Pakistan and more were interested in Pakistan as they considered it an attractive market for business and investment. The Swiss Embassy will play a role in bringing more Swiss companies to Pakistan to tap its untapped investment potential. He said this while talking to a delegation of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) that called on him led by Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, President and discussed with him matters for further improving bilateral trade and economic relations between the two countries. Ajwat Arslan Khan, Commercial Advisor of Swiss Embassy was also present on the occasion.

The Envoy stressed for strong efforts to further increase Swiss-Pakistan bilateral trade as both countries have good potential to improve trade ties in multiple areas. He said that Switzerland was keen to improve business relations with Pakistan and stressed that the private sectors of both countries should develop strong business linkages to explore new avenues of bilateral cooperation. He said that in case the business community was interested in promoting Swiss brands in Pakistan, his embassy would cooperate in connecting them with the right companies.

Speaking on the occasion, Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that Switzerland was quite advanced in tourism and it should cooperate with Pakistan in promoting its tourism industry. He said that Pakistan possessed very attractive spots for tourism and Swiss cooperation in developing modern tourism infrastructure would help attract tourists from around the world towards Pakistan. He said that ICCI had recently organized a successful tourism summit in Skardu in which many foreign diplomats participated and said that ICCI would try to organize more such events to highlight the tourism potential in Pakistan. He emphasized that both countries should encourage regular exchange of trade delegations to explore all untapped areas of mutual cooperation.

Engr. Azhar ul Islam Zafar, Vice President ICCI said that the close cooperation of Pakistan with Switzerland would help it in getting easy access to many potential markets of South-Central Europe. He said that both countries should facilitate collaboration between their chambers of commerce to improve trade ties.

Zafar Bakhtawari, former President ICCI and Secretary General UBG said that no European airline was currently coming to Pakistan while due to technical reasons, flights of PIA to EU were banned. He stressed that Swiss airline and airlines of European countries should start direct flights with Pakistan that would help in promoting trade relations as well. He said that ICCI was also planning to start its own airline to connect Pakistan with potential markets.