UK to increase trade and investment in Pakistan: Sarah Mooney

Deputy High Commissioner and Trade Director for Pakistan

Sarah Mooney has said the UK is working to increase trade and investment in Pakistan so that the country could achieve the place it should have. Sarah Mooney, UK’s Deputy High Commissioner and Trade Director for Pakistan.

She said that we must go forward to change the style of the partnership between Pakistan and the United Kingdom which should be a genuine partnership where we bring investment and expertise to Pakistan and to take benefit from the expertise in Pakistan.

She added that the High Commission is researching to identify those products which can get significant success in the UK’s market and after identifying those products, we would come back to Pakistan’s business community. She was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

She said we have 96% duty-free products coming from Pakistan and are working on the rest. She said that education is our priority area where we want to collaborate with Pakistani institutions and enhance cooperation and we are also keen to support education below the university level. The other which we are interested in is sustainable growth, green energy, and infrastructure development. Lastly, healthcare is our other priority area.

LCCI President Kashif Anwar and Senior Vice President Chaudhry Zafar Mahmood also spoke on the occasion while Executive Committee Members were also present.

The Deputy High Commissioner said that the floods caused devastation and disaster for Pakistan. I am very encouraged to see that British citizens have contributed around 100 million pounds to the flood relief efforts. The British government has a disaster relief fund and the UK citizens are contributing to that fund.

LCCI President Kashif Anwar said that Lahore Chamber always attaches great value to having good working relations with British High Commission for the sake of exploring ways to further strengthen the bilateral ties.

He said that the United Kingdom has been one of its major trading partners of Pakistan and is currently the fourth-largest export market for Pakistani products.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan statistics, Pakistan’s Exports to the UK were around $2.2 billion in 2021-22 compared to around $2 billion in 2020-21. On the other hand, our imports from the UK were $869 million in 2021-22 as compared to $780 million in 2020-21.

“It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan’s exports to the UK are dominated heavily by textiles. We are of the view that the bilateral trade volume which currently stands around $3 billion should be taken to at least $10 billion,” he added.

LCCI President said that a heavy percentage of Energy is still generated from expensive imported fuel which has resulted in steep tariff hikes and huge circular debt. We cannot afford to sustain with that anymore.

He said that LCCI is particularly concentrating on the development of SMEs with a special focus on Women Entrepreneurs. We would certainly like to collaborate with British High Commission for attaining the desired results.