December 18, 2003	Thursday	Shawwal 23, 1424

SIALKOT, Dec 17: The political officer US counsel Lahore Ms. Deborah Grout has assured the Sialkot business community that the US will make strenuous efforts to enhance the mutual trade volume in favour of Pakistan.

This assurance was made by her while addressing the meeting of local industrialists and exporters at Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), after visiting various leading industrial units in Sambrial (Daska), Uggoki and Sialkot City on Wednesday.

The SCCI President Tahir Majeed Kapur, SVP Zahid Latif Malik and vice president Maj (Rtd) Masroor Ahmad were also present on this occasion.

US political officer Ms. Deborah Grout said that the US and Pakistan had been enjoying cordial and friendly trade relations since long and with the passage of time these trade ties would strengthen.

She said that Pakistan’s economy was getting stronger due to the effective and positive economic policies of the government. The US diplomat was of the view that business environment of Pakistan was most conducive and open for foreign investment. She said that there are bright prospects for expanding trade relations between USA and Pakistan.

She said the whole world was appreciating the role of Pakistan in war against terrorism and the US was fully aware of the woes and economic problems being faced by Pakistan in this connection. The US diplomat said the US had not left Pakistan alone in this tough time, adding that the US had provided multi-billion financial and economic assistance packages for Pakistan for stabilizing the economy of Pakistan after 9/11.

Commenting on visa problems faced by the business community, she said that after 9/11 the US visa policy had undergone a drastic change and had become more time consuming. She said that security system at various airports in the US has improved during the last six months adding that after the security condition improvement the visa policy would be relaxed.

She said, “the Sialkot exporters have the potential of capturing the US international trade and export markets by exporting the best quality traditional and non-traditional export items, besides utilising opportunities of exploring the new American and European markets.”

Earlier, in his address of welcome, the SCCI president Tahir Majeed Kapur said the US was traditional trading partner of Pakistan since independence.