KARACHI, Sept 14: Britain's Deputy High Commissioner Hamish Daniel has informed industrialists that two trade missions will visit Pakistan by next week. He advised the industrialists to get appointment with them in order to increase bilateral trade between Pakistan and the UK.

Mr Daniel said that conditions for foreign investment in Pakistan were quite favourable and a large number of British firms were making investment in Pakistan. In this regard, travel advisory to the British had also been eased, he added.

Talking to members of the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (Kati) here on Tuesday, Mr Daniel said the UK would provide 200 million pounds aid to Pakistan in the next three years, which would be utilized for the promotion of education, says a press release of Kati.

He said that 100,000 applications were received for issuance of visa to the Pakistanis, which could not be processed immediately. However, all-out efforts are being made to speed up the process, and for this purpose the number of staff is being increased in Karachi.

Mr Daniel said that those who had good letters of reference and had travelled before were issued visas in seven working days. He said visas would be issued on the recommendation and verification of bona fide of applicants by the chamber or Kati.

He said more than 800,000 Pakistanis were working in the UK who contributed significantly to the development of economy of the country. Kati Chairman Mian Zahid Hussain said there was a great potential for investment from British companies to form joint ventures and enter into agreements for transfer of technology in the field of power generation, telecommunication, iron and steel sector, chemical and food processing.

The UK is a major importer of Pakistani textile products. The two-way trade has been in favour of Pakistan since 1997-98. Pakistan's exports to the UK in 2003-04 were $941-million whereas imports from the UK were $435 million.