Under the patronage of the Pakistani Ambassador to Ukraine Noel Khokhar, the first Ukrainian-Pakistani Business Forum was held in the presence of a group of Pakistani, Ukrainian and Arab businessmen, including the President of the Ukrainian-Arab Association of Businessmen and Investors, businessman Muhammad Salim Al-Atti, in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, where many agreements and treaties were signed during the forum. Aiming to strengthen cooperation frameworks between the two countries in the field of trade and economic cooperation.
Kyiv. Ukraine. Ukraine Gate – October 10, 2021 – Forums and Conferences
At the beginning of the meeting, the Pakistani ambassador expressed his great thanks and gratitude to the businessmen who welcomed the participating Pakistani delegation, led by the Pakistani businessman Zahoor and the head of the Ukrainian-Arab Association of Businessmen and Investors, businessman Muhammad Salim Al-Ati.
The ambassador said, “The statistics of our economic relations with Ukraine are very positive, and there are serious efforts to strengthen and develop these relations, which the foreign ministers of the two countries are currently preparing through holding meetings and discussions to reach preferential terms in order to conclude a preferential trade agreement that can later develop into Free trade area, negotiations are also underway to hold the first inaugural session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Economic Cooperation.
The ambassador noted that both countries have great potential, as both Ukraine and Pakistan have a large number of trade associations, business formations and companies interested in cooperation.
As Pakistan has a huge market with more than 200 million people, therefore, we have a large space for cooperation.
The ambassador stressed his country’s keenness, under the directives of the Presidency of the State, to cooperate with Ukraine due to the state’s stimulating advantages and a fertile environment with its agricultural lands and precious minerals.
The ambassador stressed the keenness to strengthen economic relations between the two countries and the importance of joint work to find effective mechanisms and within specific time periods to raise the level of trade exchange between the two countries, and to work together to overcome the difficulties that limit the flow of intra-trade.
For his part, the President of the Ukrainian-Arab Association of Businessmen and Investors, businessman Mohamed Salim Al-Ati, stressed that the volume of intra-trade between the two sides must rise to higher levels in light of the great potentials available in the various economic sectors, which is what the two countries should be keen on paying most of their attention to in order to reach To the extent that achieves the hopes and ambitions of the two heads of state.
Al-Atti stressed the importance of increasing the trade exchange between the two countries to the desired extent, pointing to the interest of the association, which includes elite Ukrainian and Arab businessmen, to increase the volume of Ukrainian-Pakistani exchange to rise to the distinguished relations between the two brotherly countries.
Al-Ati affirmed the invitation of the Pakistani private sector and its encouragement to network with the Ukrainian private sector in order to establish joint investments in both countries, noting that special invitations were sent to Pakistani companies and businessmen to participate in the Ukrainian-Arab International Exhibition and Conference.
At the end of the meeting, the two sides agreed on an action plan to enhance the volume of trade exchange between the two countries, which includes networking business owners in both countries and signing an executive program to activate the memorandum of understanding for mutual recognition of conformity certificates and quality marks.
It was also agreed to sign a preferential agreement between two or more countries to facilitate international trade between them by reducing domestic tariffs.
Thus, a country for the same goods sets preferential tariffs for trade in the preferential country’s preferential area and those usual for trade with other countries;
On the sidelines of the forum, a signing ceremony was held for a cooperation agreement between the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Pakistani Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
In the first seven months of 2021, bilateral trade between Ukraine and Pakistan amounted to nearly $179 million, nearly doubling compared to last year. In this amount, the share of exports is 120 million dollars, and imports – 58 million dollars.
And at the end of last year, the volume of trade between our states amounted to almost half a billion dollars. There is room to significantly increase this amount and reach the ambitious figure of $1 billion, said Victoria Luban, Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine.
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Source: Ukrgate
