Swiss ambassador proposes to provide advanced textile machinery

KARACHI: The Swiss envoy to Pakistan Ambassador Bénédict de Cerjat said in Karachi Chamber of Commerce ceremony Thursday his country Switzerland is willing to hammer out and encourage a bilateral trade with Pakistan, ARY News reported.

He said Switzerland can provide to Pakistani textile sector state of the art machinery as the export sector of Pakistan needs to introduce improvements in the products and value addition.

While the export numbers at the moment mostly favor the Swiss, the ambassador said it can only go on for long if both the countries benefited equally from it.

It may be noted that in the year 2019, the total exports to Switzerland from Pakistan stood at US$169.98 while the imports in Pakistan from there were almost double: US$ 376.31.

It means that Switzerland exported in Pakistan products worth 81 per cent more than the other way around.

The ambassador noted that while it’s not amongst his duties to try and give rise to the export volume of Pakistan into Switzerland as this role is duly held by Pakistani envoy there, but he will nevertheless do what he can to promote it there.

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In the past 10 years, Switzerland has amazingly held the fourth top position in countries to channel in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country, he said.

Present in the ceremony was the president of Karachi Chambers of Commerce and Industries (KCCI) Shariq Vohra who said KCC looks forward to seeing through the expansion in bilateral trade between Switzerland and Pakistan.

KCCI will play its due role in boosting bilateral Swiss-Pakistan trade, Shariq Vohra reiterated.