Bosnia to boost business ties with Pakistan

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Bosnia to boost business ties with Pakistan

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Bosnian President Bakir Izetbegovic vowed to enhance business relations with Pakistan.

09 October,2012 09:51 pm

Bosnia offers Pakistan a gateway to enter into a huge European market of more than 600 million people and Pakistani entrepreneurs should explore Bosnia for increasing trade and capturing better market share in Europe.This was said by Bakir Izetbegovic, President of Bosnia and Herzegovina while addressing a seminar on “Pak-Bosnia Business Opportunities” organized by Trade Development Authority of Pakistan and Ministry of Commerce in a local hotel.He said that Pakistan and Bosnia should benefit from the process of globalization. He said Bosnia was a well-integrated economy with Europe and Pakistan can reap rich economic benefits by increasing trade & economic cooperation with Bosnia. He said Bosnia achieved 5.7 percent GDP growth during last year, which shows resilience of its economy.He said both countries should develop institutional arrangements and give the major role to private sectors for promoting trade and economic relations. He was hopeful that his visit along with a high profile business delegation would produce concrete results for both countries.Nawabzada Malik Amad Khan, State Minister for Foreign Affairs welcomed the visiting guest and said that Pakistan and Bosnia enjoyed cordial relations. However economic relations between the two countries were not up to the desired level. He said that these good relations should be translated into strong economic relatios between Pakistan and Bosnia and Herzegovina for mutual benefit of the two countries.Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Zafar Bakhtawari, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that the current level of bilateral trade of US$ 447 million from July 2011 to April 2012 between Pakistan and Bosnia was far below their respective potential. Therefore, both countries should encourage the frequent exchange of business delegations to explore new trade opportunities and possibilities of joint ventures.Roubina Taufiq Shah, Director, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan conducted the seminar and threw light on the potential areas of economic cooperation between the two countries. Mr. Mohsin Khalid, former President ICCI also gave a presentation and identified many potential areas of mutual cooperation and joint ventures between the two countries.High officials of Ministry of Commerce, Board of Investment and Foreign Investment Promotion Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina gave detailed presentations on available investment opportunities in different sectors of their respective economies and invited entrepreneurs of each other to develop direct contacts to exploit these opportunities.