QUETTA: Thailand’s Consul General in Karachi Thatree Chauvachata has said that his country’s trade with Pakistan increased to $1.46 billion last year and stressed the need to strengthen bilateral economic ties.
During a meeting with senior vice president Abdullah Achakzai, vice president Akhtar Kakar and other leaders of the Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI) here on Monday, he said more efforts were needed to further boost bilateral trade and strengthen economic ties between Pakistan and Thailand.
He said that Thailand exported automobiles, crude oil, chemicals, rubber products, machinery and polymer, etc. and services worth $1,174.25 million to Pakistan. Similarly Pakistan’s exports to Thailand increased by 41.45 per cent in 2019.
“Pakistan exported aquatic animals, garments and textiles to Thailand,” he said, adding that Pakistan ranked 36th in Thailand’s global investment, while it is number 2 in South Asia.
The Thai envoy said that nine meetings had been held between the two countries so far for increasing bilateral trade volume.
He informed the meeting that very recently Pakistan’s Electro-Polymers Private Limited and Thai Stanley Electric Public Company Limited had inked a historic partnership by signing international tripartite joint venture with Japan, Thailand and Pakistan.
Mr Chauvachata said in recent years trade between the two countries had shown tremendous improvement. In 2016, the volume of two-way trade was around $1bn that surged to $1.7bn in 2018. From 2016 to 2018, Pakistan’s exports to Thailand increased from $110 million to $225m whereas its imports from Thailand went up from $920m to $1.4bn, he said.
The QCCI’s senior vice president Abdullah Achakzai and vice president Akhtar Kakar informed the meeting that trade between the two countries had been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic and asked the Thai authorities to accept the Covid-19 test reports of Pakistani traders.
They requested the Thai consul general to extend multiple visa validation up to six years.
Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2020
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