FCCI informed: Pakistan, Australia may finalise investment agreement soon

Australian High Commissioner Timothy Kane told a gathering at the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry that Pakistan and Australia are negotiating a bilateral investment deal, which he expects to be concluded soon. Business Recorder reported that he praised the business skills of Pakistanis but said Australia would help local producers lift product quality to boost shipments to that market. Cooperation in animal genetics, water management and crop improvement is being extended to Pakistan and other South Asian countries, he added.

Highlighting the farm sector, Kane said around 40 percent of the teaching staff at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, has links with Australia. Even so, Pakistan's farm commodity purchases from Australia have doubled in ten years, he noted, and he called for investment to lift exports. He said several barriers still block mango and orange shipments to Australia, and stressed that produce quality must improve to overcome them.

FCCI President Farooq Yousaf Sheikh cited the latest figures, which put Pakistan's shipments to Australia at $278 million and imports at $540 million. He listed textiles, garments, rice, leather goods, pharmaceuticals and engineering goods among Pakistan's main exports there, while noting the trade balance favours Australia. Faisalabad, he added, supplies 57 percent of the country's textile exports and has broadened into pharmaceuticals, automobiles and food.