ISLAMABAD: The Belarus Ambassador of Andrei Metelista has called upon the business community of Islamabad to develop joint venture groups with the businesses of his country.

During a visit to the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) he highlighted the need for identifying the common grounds for cooperation between Belarusian and Pakistani businessmen.

“High level talks and several bilateral MOUs are expected during the upcoming visit of the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenkoto, to Pakistan, with focus of developing joint ventures between the business communities of both countries,” Mr Metelista said.

He added both the countries would sign several trade and economic agreements during the visit of Belarusian president.

He said the existing bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Belarus was only $60 million, while the actual potential is much more than that.

Mr Metelista said that Belarus was exporting heavy machinery along with fertilisers, agriculture equipment, synthetic filament, chemicals, malt extract, etc., to Pakistan.

“We import textiles, rice, citrus fruits, leather apparel, leather footwear and medical instruments from Pakistan,” the Belarus envoy said adding that the farm sector of Pakistan can benefit from the highly developed research works in the agriculture in Belarus.

“We will benefit from the results by importing more rice and citrus from Pakistan.” Mr Metelista added.

On this occasion, President ICCI, Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari said that Belarus was an important country of Eastern Europe with which Pakistan’s Free Trade Agreement is inevitable and that exchange of business delegations is needed to explore the untapped potential of both the countries.

He offered that the ICCI will take the initiative to lead a delegation of business community to Belarus.

Meanwhile, representative of Belarus Chamber of Commerce and Industry Jurabek Kirgizbekov,

Secretary General of United Business Group, Zafar Bakhtawari and Chairman Founder Group, ICCI, Khalid Iqbal Malik stressed that the private sectors of both the countries will have to come forward to strengthen trade ties.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2024