Daily Times

Malaysian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Mohammad Azhar Mazlan on Wednesday emphasized the imperative of bolstering collaboration with Pakistan in the Hilal meat industry, highlighting the promising prospects of its potential for the production of Hilal meat, chicken, and dairy products.

He made the remarks during a guest lecture at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) in connection with the ‘Distinguished Lecture Series’ of IPRI. The lecture, under the theme ‘Diplomatic Reflections’ was focused on ‘Pakistan-Malaysia Relations in the New Era.’

The High Commissioner noted that Pakistan was Malaysia’s third-largest trading partner export destination and second-largest import source. He said that the imports of palm oil by Pakistan from Malaysia had been increasing since the Malaysian Free Trade Agreement (FTA) came into effect in 2008.

Pakistan imported 9% of its palm oil from Malaysia, while the rest was imported from Indonesia, he added.

“As of January 2023, the total number of foreign workers in Malaysia is 1,493,581 whereas the number of registered Pakistani workers is 49,409, which is 3.31 percent of the total number of foreign workers in Malaysia,” he remarked.

It is estimated that currently Malaysia was home to more than 100,000 Pakistani diaspora, and the official recorded number of Malaysian diaspora stands at 150 people, while there are huge local Malaysian population living in Buner district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

As a way-forward, the envoy pointed out avenues such as elevating the existing Strategic Partnership and covering all areas of economics, technology and defence, enhancing leadership and people-to-people cooperation, addressing concerns in climate change and renewable energy sectors; evolving high-tech industry and benefiting from Pakistan’s potential as a an agricultural powerhouse, and work for policy reforms for a shared and inclusive growth.

The envoy said that as one of the founding members of ASEAN, Malaysia was highly committed to further strengthening ties between ASEAN and Pakistan.

He said that with an aggregate GDP exceeding USD 3 trillion, ASEAN was now ranked as the fifth-largest economy globally, poised to ascend to the fourth spot by 2050.

He said that Pakistan was projected to be the 16th largest economy by 2050, and the total trade between ASEAN and Pakistan presently was over USD 11 billion.

High Commissioner Azhar Mazlan said that Malaysia would never recognize Israel, until and unless there is a Two-State solution in the Middle East, and an independent State of Palestine is carved out.

He remarked that Malaysia was a beneficiary of competent leadership, and through 12 consecutive Sustainable Programs, it has scaled new heights of success and development.

“Having right leaders at the right time is essential,” he said and hoped that Pakistan too would overcome political instability to come out strongly.

He hoped that in the next 10 years, Malaysia would be the world’s top 25th economy. He observed that Pakistan must convince the international audience that it was a safe destination for investment and tourism.

He made a special reference to the surgical and sports industry in Sialkot, and termed it as one of the best and competitive in the world.