Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) along with Muhammad Aslam Khokhar, ICCI Executive Member visited the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia and held with H.E. Nawaf Saeed Al-Malkiy, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to explore the new prospects for further improving bilateral trade between the two brotherly countries. They also reviewed the progress on the MoU that was signed between the two institutions to expand and strengthen trade and economic relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan stressed the importance of promoting direct business linkages between the private sectors of both countries to explore new avenues of mutual cooperation and said that for this purpose, ICCI has planned to take a business delegation of major exporters & importers from across Pakistan to Saudi Arabia to connect them with Saudi counterparts for business collaborations. The delegation would represent various sectors including textiles & garments, pharmaceuticals, IT, agro products including Halal food products, dairy goods, rice, fruits & vegetables, cooking oil, surgical instruments, sportswear, leather goods, marble & granite, steel, cement etc. He said that the facilitation and support of Saudi embassy was very important to make its visit successful.
ICCI President also shared a list of major exporters and importers of Pakistan with Saudi Ambassador for sharing it with Saudi counterparts so that the overlooked sectors could be tapped for bilateral trade promotion and businesses of both countries could prosper together. He said that the delegation would also explore the opportunities of JVs and investment between the two countries, which would further strengthen their strategic alliance. He said that Saudi Arabia has always supported Pakistan in difficult times and said that bringing the private sectors of both countries closer would further deepen their growing relations.
Speaking at the occasion, H.E. Nawaf Saeed Al-Malkiy, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia welcomed Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President ICCI and Muhammad Aslam Khokhar Executive Member ICCI and appreciated the proactive role of ICCI in promoting business activities. He said that Saudi Arabia wanted to see Pakistan as a growing economy as it was a very important country for the whole Muslim Ummah. He said that the Saudi Arabia was interested in closer commercial and investment cooperation with Pakistan. He said that Pakistan has a lot of potential for economic growth that should be highlighted more effectively to attract foreign investors. He said that there was a need to focus on projecting the positive things of Pakistan to highlight its true potential. He assured that Saudi Embassy would facilitate ICCI delegation in visiting Saudi Arabia as exchange of business delegations between the two countries was the best way to explore all untapped areas of mutual collaboration. He further assured that he would continue to work for further promoting trade cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia that would bring progress and prosperity for both nations. Both sides also exchanged views on speeding up the work for realizing the key objectives of MoU that was signed by them in January this year.