Filipino, Pakistani execs seek broader trade ties

Executives of the Philippines and Pakistan seek to broaden and diversify economic ties of both countries through enhanced co­operation in the fields of agricul­ture, defense, information tech­nology (IT) and pharmaceuticals.

In a meeting with Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Pakistani Ambassador to Manila Safdar Hayat said pharmaceuti­cal firms in Pakistan want to in­vest in the Philippines, while oth­er companies have expressed interest in exploring areas for co­operation on technology transfer in fruit processing and IT where the Philippines has excelled.

“My efforts from the very be­ginning have been to concentrate on enhancing trade between the two countries,” Hayat said.

Hayat said Pakistan is also inter­ested in exporting rice along with weapons, tanks, aircraft and submarines to the Philippines. Pakistan, he said, could also export textiles to, and import chemicals and manufactured goods from, the Philippines.

Dominguez agreed with Hayat on the need to improve eco­nomic relations between their countries and raised the possi­bility of importing Basmati rice from Pakistan when the gov­ernment lifts the quantitative re­strictions on the grain next year.

Both officials agreed that the first meeting of the Joint Economic Commission ten­tatively set in April next year would be a mutually bene­ficial “starting point” for im­proved trade relations between the two countries, along with the conduct of trade delega­tions between the two sides.

The governments of Paki­stan and the Philippines have ratified the establishment of a Joint Economic Commission on Aug. 17 2009 to further promote increased trade and investments between the two countries.

“We’ll certainly partic­ipate. That will be a good start,” Dominguez said when informed by Hayat about the joint commission meeting.

Hayat also sought Domin­guez’s support in inviting Phil­ippine business leaders to the event as part of continu­ing efforts between the two sides to improve bilateral trade and investment cooperation.

Bilateral trade between Islamabad and Manila re­main at a narrow base, with the Philippines’ exports to Pakistan totaling $61.3 mil­lion, and imports amounting to $55.7 million as of 2014.

The country’s top exports to Pakistan include corn, ve­hicles and vehicle parts, cig­arette paper, malt extract and processed fruits and nuts.

The Philippines, in turn, im­ports packaged medicaments, refined petroleum, alcohol, raw tobacco, non-retail pure cot­ton yarn, and textiles, among other items, from Pakistan.

Dominguez informed Ha­yat that the Philippines’ Depart­ment of Defense is interested in importing weapons from Pa­kistan, which has a robust and advanced defense industry.

“I spoke with the (Pakistani) Minister of Defense and my un­derstanding is that the defense industry in Pakistan is very ad­vanced, and that maybe we should look at purchasing mili­tary equipment from them and he said that he definitely would look at it,” Dominguez said.

“I spoke right away with (De­fense Secretary Delfin) Lorenza­na. He says the equipment in the Pakistan Defense Ministry is very good,” Dominguez added.

Diplomatic relations be­tween the two countries were established on Sept. 8, 1949, with the Philippines open­ing a consulate in Karachi.

During the visit of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to Manila in 2005, he and then-President Arroyo signed a Memorandum of Understand­ing in Combating Terrorism and Certain Other Crimes, which was envisioned to facilitate sus­tained security and intelligence coordination and cooperation in disrupting terrorist and transna­tional concerns and crimes.