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Summary ICCI President calls on US State Office official Robert Nelson.
Pakistan has suffered immense economic and human losses due to playing the role of a frontline state against war on terror and USA should provide enhanced market access to Pakistani products to improve its economy.This was said by Zafar Bakhtawari, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry while exchanging views with Robert Nelson Pakistan Desk Officer of US State Department and Jason A. Smith Economic Officer of US Embassy who called on him at ICCI.ICCI President said that European Parliament has approved GSP Plus status for Pakistani products landing in UK from January 2014 along with approving zero duty on 75 products from 2013 and urged that USA should also provide similar concessions to Pakistan to compensate it for economic losses. He said both countries should explore the possibility of signing a free trade agreement to promote bilateral trade & exports.Zafar Bakhtawari termed energy crisis as the most serious problem of Pakistan due to which economy was badly suffering and stressed that USA should have played its positive role in materialization of Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project. This project will not only help in overcoming energy deficit in the country, it will also promote peace in the region, he observed. He appreciated US Embassy support to ICCI in its efforts for promoting youth entrepreneurs.He said Pakistan has already sacrificed more than 50,000 precious lives for fighting war on terror and US should not insist on Pakistan to do more as we will have to sacrifice more lives to meet such demands.Former ICCI Presidents M/s. Tariq Sadiq, Zubair Ahmed Malik, Khalid Javed & Munawar Mughal also spoke on the occasion and lauded US support on energy conservation initiatives in Pakistan. They hoped that it will help in mitigating energy wastage and improving power supply to industry.They said that due to energy shortage, industries were operating at half capacity and USA should help Pakistan in its efforts aimed at improving energy situation. US should also encourage its investors to explore Pakistan’s energy sector, which offers lucrative investment opportunities.M/s.Robert Nelson Pakistan Desk Officer of US State Department and Jason A. Smith Economic Officer Embassy of USA appreciated Pakistan’s role in war on terror and said that USA was committed to cooperate with Pakistan in economy, energy, trade and other sectors.Regarding, FTA, they said that USA was interested in signing a bilateral investment treaty with Pakistan as a first step to move towards signing a free trade agreement.
