Forum to provide EU and Pakistani businesses opportunities to become engines of development and partnership contribution to enhancing bilateral trade
Nazir Siyal
KARACHI: The speakers at EU-Pakistan Business Forum-2021 held here at a local hotel highlighted on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) importance and their role in value addition. They informed participants about how SMEs could benefit from the EU’s GSP+ (General System of Preferences Plus) scheme, providing two-thirds of tariff lines duty-free access to the EU market with the rest on preferential duties. The objective of the forum was to provide opportunities to both EU and Pakistani businesses to work together to become engines of development and partnership and contribute to enhancing bilateral trade.
In a keynote address by Governor Sindh Imran Ismail observed that the the business forum would play a key role in bringing together SMEs from the EU and Pakistan to enhance their export orientation as well as collaboration in technology transfer and promotion of businesses.
“Such projects and forums would help further deepen relations between Pakistan and EU, strengthen people to people contacts and to facilitate SMEs to establish the right linkages to expand the trade in the EU market”, he added.
Ambassador of the European Union to Pakistan Mrs Androulla Kaminara, while addressing the forum said that the initiative was aimed at to promote and facilitate trade activities between Pakistan and EU with a focus to further enhance public interaction for boosting economic cooperation with the involvement of the business community and continued engagement with the government through the EU-Pakistan Business Forum, she expressed hope to develop initiatives, build capacity and provide technical assistance to support the SME development process in Pakistan.
Amongst others, the forum was also addressed by Lis Rosenholm, Ambassador of Denmark; Henrik Persson, Ambassador of Sweden; Gonzalo Varela, Trade Economist, World Bank; Daniel Clauss, Head of Political, Trade & Communication, EU Delegation to Pakistan.
