Minister for Commerce, Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan, paid a 3-day official visit to the Czech Republic commencing on 24 October 2016 at the invitation of H.E. Ing. Jan Mladek, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic. He held bilateral talks with the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade in Prague on 24 October 2016.
The Minister of Industry and Trade warmly welcomed Minister for Commerce to Prague on his second visit. Both Ministers expressed satisfaction over the development of economic ties and expressed optimism to further consolidate these ties through regular exchange of trade missions and business delegations from the Chambers of Commerce and the private sectors of the two countries. The Minister for Commerce also expressed readiness for the participation of Pakistan as partner country in the international engineering and Styl-Kabo textile fairs in 2017.
Both Ministers agreed that there existed a great potential between the two countries to surpass the existing trade volume of bilateral trade of US$ 170 million. Mr. Mladek informed the Minister for Commerce that the Czech companies were poised to provide quality technology solutions in the fields of energy especially small and medium power houses, coal mining equipments, smart metering systems and environment related technologies.
The Minister for Commerce informed his Czech counterpart about improved economic conditions of Pakistan and suggested that the Czech companies could capitalize on the favorable investment conditions in Pakistan; particularly in the fields of energy and automobile sectors.
The Minister for Commerce discussed with his counterpart problem being faced by the Pakistani businessmen in getting visas for the Czech Republic. The Minister of Industry and Trade, while highlighting requirements of the Schengen visa regime, assured the Minister for Commerce to make sincere effort to ease out the situation leading to facilitation of issuance of visas.
The Minister for Commerce renewed invitation to the Minister of Industry and Trade to visit Pakistan at mutually convenient dates in 2017. He proposed that the Pakistan side would consider holding of Pakistan-Czech Business Forum in Pakistan coinciding with the visit of the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade. H.E. Ing. Jan Mladek assured the Minister for Commerce that he would consider positively his visit to Pakistan in 2017.
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