LAHORE, DEC 22 /DNA/ – Pakistan’s Ambassador to Romania Zafar Iqbal has said that Pakistan Embassy in Romania has been extending all possible facilitation and support to Pakistani companies to explore Romanian market for trade and export enhancement, emphasizing the need for focusing on value addition of their products to achieve the desired results.

While talking to the meeting of All Pakistan Business Forum (APBF) held here, the diplomat said that Romania is an important country of Eastern Europe but it was still unexplored by the business community of Pakistan, saying that many Pakistani products were reaching Eastern Europe after value addition by third country due to which Pakistan was losing real value of its exports.

The meeting also discussed different business opportunities, besides launching a web portal of ‘Romania Pakistan Trade & Economic Window’ (#RPTEW) to promote bilateral relations of Pakistan and Romania. Beside the address of Ambassador of Pakistan to Romania, the virtual meeting was attended by APBF President Syed Maaz Mahmood, General Secretary Khurram Niaz Khan, Asim Shahzad Sheikh, Saad Hameed and Areeq ur Rehman.

Dr. Zafar Iqbal said that embassy is making full efforts to further enhance and expand bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and Romania in many areas of mutual interests. Under the vision of the prime minister we are working for the promotion of trade relations, particularly establishing linkages between the business communities of the two countries, he said and added that our focus is on attracting foreign investment as Pakistan offers enormous opportunities in this regard.

He said data and information were very important for business promotion and assured that he would share information with the APBF about rising opportunities in Romanian market for Pakistani products so that businessmen could capitalize on them.

Speaking on the occasion, APBF President Maaz Mahmood said that Pakistan and Romania were enjoying good relations that should be translated into growing trade and economic relations. He said that despite grant of GSP Plus by EU, Pakistan could not enhance its exports up to the desired level and urged that government should cooperate with private sector in frequent exchange of trade delegations with Romania that would help in exploring new avenues of business promotion with Romania.

He informed the meeting that the APBF has already signed an MoU with Romanian Embassy back in June 2015 to promote trade links and cultural exchanges to nurture closer understanding between Romania and Pakistan. Moreover, the APBF had also taken a delegation to Romania to interact with Romanian counterparts and explored business collaborations with them, he added. He informed that a high level delegation of All Pakistan Business Forum had visited Romania in April 2016 to have meetings at the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and productive discussions with other Senior Officials. The visit was aimed at fostering cooperation to tap the business opportunities between the two friendly countries, he said and added that delegation was graciously hosted by the Ambassador of Pakistan in Romania at the Embassy of Pakistan.

Syed Maaz Mahmood appreciated the ambassador’s support for business community of Pakistan, saying the #RPTEW will help explore various trade opportunities and enhance the bilateral relations. In the coming days, a concept note will be shared with the embassy to implement this idea.

The APBF other leadership also spoke on the occasion and shared ideas for further improving bilateral trade and economic relations between Pakistan and Romania.=DNA

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