Consul General of Malaysia Herman Hardynata Bin Ahmad, said that Pakistan’s share in bilateral trade was also improving as Malaysia has increased its purchases of rice and frozen food from Pakistan. Though trade volume between the two countries was largely in Malaysia’s favour, its exports to Pakistan mainly represent palm oil, he added while speaking at a meeting during his visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), said a statement issued here on Friday. “Malaysia is a small country and in terms of palm oil production, we are limited and unable to completely fulfil Pakistan’s growing demand for palm oil even though we have been producing palm oil at our peak capacity,” the CG said. The Malaysian envoy appreciated KCCI for regularly holding meetings and maintaining excellent liaison with the Malaysian Consulate and also expressed keenness to get engaged with the business community of Karachi that was arranging meetings focused on strengthening bilateral trade and investment ties. “Last year a Malaysian delegation came to Pakistan in September to explore new avenues of trade cooperation and I will try to bring more such delegations to Karachi this year as well”, he added while appreciating the existing trade volume, especially the trade taking place from Karachi region. He said that both countries have been cooperating not only in trade but also in Defense as Malaysia has been sending its defence officials for training in Pakistan and Pakistani officials from the armed forces were also being sent to Malaysia for training. “In addition to enhanced trade, there are many other opportunities in the tourism sector and capacity building in many other sectors of the economy,” Bin Ahmed noted. Earlier, President KCCI Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh, while welcoming the Malaysian CG, stated that Pakistan and Malaysia have strong and diversified bilateral economic relationships in various areas of mutual interest. “Despite strong brotherly ties, the bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Malaysia remains below its true potential as Pakistani exports to Malaysia currently stand at around $300 million in FY23 which need to be enhanced to a reasonable level,” the KCCI chief observed and underscored the need to eliminate trade barriers, encourage ease of doing business and diversify products for economic cooperation. Effective implementation of a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) establishing a closer economic partnership between Pakistan and Malaysia can substantially enhance trade volume between the two countries, he noted. “It is imperative for Pakistan to pursue economic integration with the ASEAN block having a collective GDP size of $3.6 trillion. This will open new avenues for strengthening ties and establishing institutional connections with individual ASEAN members and the collective group,” Sheikh opined. He was of the view that SIFC and CPEC, being the powerful regional economic transformational tools to stimulate FDI, offer tremendous opportunities for Malaysian businesses to explore joint ventures and provide a robust avenue to strengthen and elevate economic relations between the two countries. “Pakistani-Malaysian companies could pursue joint ventures in various sectors such as agriculture, textile, foods, pharmaceutical, sports, footwear, leather, energy sectors, Islamic Finance, low-cost housing, infrastructure development, telecommunications, and education etc.”, he said, adding that collaborative efforts with Malaysia in training and capacity building of workers can contribute to an increase in remittances from Malaysia. Senior Vice President KCCI Altaf A. Ghaffar, VP Tanveer Ahmed Barry, Chairman Diplomatic Missions and Embassies Liaison Subcommittee Farooq Afzal, Former President Majyd Aziz and KCCI Managing Committee Members were also present on the occasion.