Malaysian HC wants more trade with Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Addressing a gathering at the Malaysian High Commission on Thursday, High Commissioner Dato' Mohammad Azhar Mazlan urged enhancing trade between Pakistan and his country.

The event aimed at networking between Pakistani stakeholders and friends of Malaysia. It was attended by a large number of guests including businessmen, members of parliament and senior officers.

The high commissioner reminded that Pakistan and Malaysia ties were characterized by broad-based cooperation in trade, investment, agriculture, science, technology, defence, education, and tourism. The two countries have maintained a high-level political dialogue. The long history of close bilateral cooperation reaffirms the commitment to strengthen the mutually beneficial partnership. Pakistan and Malaysia have agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation in multiple areas including trade, investment, defence and agriculture besides reiterating their strong positions on regional issues including Gaza.

The envoy said the total trade between Pakistan and Malaysia stood at $1.4 billion with trade goods including palm oil, apparel, textiles, chemical and chemical-based products, and electronic products. The trade after a slight dip is enhancing again. Among South Asian countries, Pakistan is Malaysia's third-largest trading partner. Flights between Kuala Lumpur and Karachi and Lahore are fully operational. They are providing comfortable services. Punjab’s Basmati rice is popular with Malaysian consumers.

Former chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen (retd) Ehsanul Haq, former Foreign secretary Jauhar Saleem, Senior Executive Director Ogra Imran Ghaznavi, former ambassador to Japan Farrukh Amil, Aga Khan CFO Naveed Zafar Sethi, Additional Secretary National Food Security and Research Saeedullah Yousafzai, Senator Palwasha Muhammadzai, MNA Asfanyar Bhandara and Islamabad Policy Research Institute President Ambassador Dr Raza Muhammad were among the guests.