KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2: The prime ministers of Pakistan and Malaysia on Sunday reiterated their desire for strengthening bilateral economic ties and hoped the volume of two-way trade would rapidly increase to mutual advantage of the two countries.

They expressed these views at the Pakistan Expo which was inaugurated by Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Noting the strides Pakistan has made in terms of economic recovery and exporting good quality products across the world, Mr Badawi said: “The two countries will continue their initiative for enhancing bilateral trade.”

Earlier, Prime Minister Aziz said by holding a single country exhibition in the Malaysian capital, Pakistani exporters had demonstrated their confidence that Pakistan could produce high-quality products and compete in any market.

He reminded the audience of phenomenal strides in improving quality of Pakistani textile products, surgical instruments, sports goods and engineering sector and said the country’s export potential was rapidly growing.

“The government’s role is to create an enabling environment in which the private sectors and traders could build linkages that help to open up more doors to increasing bilateral ties,” he added. Prime Minister Aziz said Pakistan was a free trade country and open to imports from Malaysia.

Prime Minister Badawi said he and Premier Aziz were hoping and planning increased bilateral trade between the two countries. “We are optimistic that in future the trade volume between the two Muslim countries would increase very rapidly,” he added.

He said Pakistan and Malaysia were cooperating for capacity building in the Muslim countries which had resources but were not involved in trade as their produces were only restricted to agriculture.

“We are approaching these countries together to help the Islamic countries to enhance and improve their capacity building.

The Malaysian prime minister was happy to see that Pakistani exporters had brought their products on a flag showing visit, and hoped that it would pay rich dividends.

The two prime ministers also visited various pavilions.

Seventy-six companies are represented in the three-day exhibition, organized by the Export Promotion Bureau.