Argentina Ambassador Rodolfo Jose Martin-Saravia on Saturday said that Pakistan had good potential to promote trade and economic relations with Argentina, especially in agriculture and other fields.
The private sector in Pakistan, he said, should become more proactive to explore business opportunities with Argentinian counterparts.
During his farewell visit to the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he said the new government in Argentina had brought many positive reforms in business field due to which the perception of business people had turned quite optimistic. The Argentinian market was opening now and the ICCI should take a trade delegation to the country to explore new avenues of business collaborations, he added.
He said an expo would be held in Dubai in the last week of February in which 145 companies of Argentina would participate and stressed that it was a good opportunity for Pakistani private sector to attend that expo and directly interact with Argentinian counterparts to find out business matchmakings in areas of interest.
He said expos and trade fairs were the best meeting points for entrepreneurs and private sectors should organise solo exhibitions in each other’s country to show potential of their products for promoting bilateral trade. He said he had spent 12 years in Pakistan and was going back from here with many cherished memories.
In his welcome address, ICCI President Atif Ikram Sheikh appreciated the services of Rodolfo Jose Martin-Saravia for promoting good relations between Pakistan and Argentina.
He said that businessmen of both the countries had to make strenuous efforts for trade promotion as the bilateral trade of about $365 million during 2014-15 between Pakistan and Argentina did not reflect true potential of both countries.
He said import-restrictive regime of Argentina was a major hurdle for promoting exports and stressed that such restrictions should be removed to improve bilateral trade between the two countries. He said Pakistan had requested Mercosur block for preferential trade agreement and being a member of Mercosur, Argentina should play its role for materialisation of this agreement.
Atif Ikram Sheikh said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor would create many business and investment opportunities in Pakistan while next century was going was going to be the century of Asia and Argentinian investors should focus on Pakistan to take benefit of the emerging business opportunities in this region. Sheikh Abdul Waheed, Vice President ICCI, Zafar Bakhawari, Vice President FPCCI, Mian Shaukat Masud, former president ICCI and others also lauded the services of Rodolfo Jose Martin-Saravia in Pakistan.