KARACHI, Sept 8: The Brussels Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIB) and the Pakistan-Belgium Business Forum (PBBF) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for co-operation between the two trade bodies.

The signing ceremony took place on Tuesday in Brussels where a 15-member PBBF delegation is currently on a three-day visit for the promotion of trade relations and exchange of views. The CCIB is over 300 years old and has 2,500 plus members and is regarded the most important Belgian chamber.

CCBI International Relations Committee Chairman Fierens Gaevaert welcomed the delegation and appreciated the initiative taken from the Pakistani side and hoped that it would produce some real and practical outcomes in terms of matchmaking of Belgian and Pakistani firms.

He noted that the European Union was Pakistan's largest trading partner with Belgium being its capital. Mr Gaevaert also acknowledged the gradually improving perception of the Pakistani market in European eyes.

PBBF President Mohammed Rajpar gave a detailed presentation about Pakistan's economy and investment opportunities. He mentioned the strong GDP growth rate, high forex reserves, low interest rates, and trade growth.

He said Pakistan's economy was poised on a strong growth and added that a lot many investment opportunities were available in various sectors such as oil and gas, telecommunications, agriculture, steel, food processing and packaging, SMEs, etc.

On behalf of some of the delegates Mr Rajpar invited joint ventures in textile and steel sectors. He informed the CCIB members that Pakistan was investing heavily in its infrastructure in order to facilitate and enhance trade by building roads and a new deep seaport at Gwadar.

He assured the Belgians that Pakistan was a safe place to visit and do business, particularly when terrorism had become a world wide phenomenon and no country was safe from its effects.

Economic Minister, Pakistan Embassy, Brussels, Tariq Iqbal Puri, speaking on the occasion advised Pakistani companies to use Belgium's unique location in the heart of Europe and learn the latest marketing techniques to penetrate entire European market.

He said that in recent years Pakistani textile industry had invested several billion dollars in machinery and technology, a lot of which came from European suppliers, and in order to maintain this buoyancy it was essential that European markets remained open to Pakistani textile goods.