Pakistan, Malaysia agree to boost, balance trade

Pakistan, Malaysia agree to boost, balance trade

ISLAMABAD (Reuters): Pakistan and Malaysia agreed on Friday to
increase and balance bilateral trade which now heavily favors
Kuala Lumpur.

Foreign ministers Abdul Sattar of Pakistan and Syed Hamid
Albar of Malaysia told a news conference after a two-day meeting
of a joint commission that the sides had agreed to encourage
Malaysian investment in joint ventures in cash-strapped Pakistan.

"We have agreed on the further enhancement of bilateral trade
in a balanced manner," Sattar said in a prepared statement.

"In order to reduce Pakistan's trade deficit with Malaysia, it
was agreed to look into ways to narrow the deficit through
cooperative endeavors as a package, including also the
possibility of relocating labor-intensive industries to
Pakistan," he said.

"The private and public sectors working in tandem should bring
about the desired transformation."

Albar said the present balance of bilateral trade was "very
much in favor of Malaysia", because of large palm oil imports
from there by Islamabad, but Malaysian investment in Pakistan
amounted to only $500 million.

"Appreciating Malaysia's position as one of the new Asian
tigers, we recognize that Malaysian investments can contribute to
our economic growth," Sattar said.

"It was, therefore, agreed that Malaysian enterprises would be
encouraged to invest in joint ventures, including joint
enterprises offered for privatization by our (Pakistani)
Privatization Commission," he said.

He said the two sides had also signed a five-year cultural
agreement to "enhance cooperation and mutual understanding and
people-to-people contacts" between the two countries.