Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: There was great potential of increasing bilateral trade between Pakistan and Australia but the existing volume was not of the mark to talk about Free Trade Agreement between the two countries.

The current volume of trade between Pakistan and Australia is about Aus $1.9 billion in the outgoing fiscal year 2017, which should be enhanced, which would further create atmosphere for discussion over FTA, said Australian High Commissioner, Margaret Adamson while talking to a group of journalists. The existing volume of trade was also in favor of Australia, despite the fact that Pakistan had some great potential. The High Commissioner said that the two way trade in goods at Aus$1.135 billion and growing two way services trade valued at almost Aus $800 million. Total goods trade between Pakistan and Australia grew 18.6 percent year on year. Services trade also grew with Pakistan’s exports of services to Australia increasing 23.4 percent in 2017.

She said Australia imports Pakistani textiles, rice, surgical equipment and sporting goods. Pakistan imports Australian food products, oil-seeds, lentils, chickpeas, vegetables, cotton, fertilizers and dairy cattle. More than 70 percent of Pakistan’s 100,000 imported dairy cows have been imported from Australia. Australia is a leading global education powerhouse with some of the world’s best facilities and educators. It is the third most popular international student destination in the world hosting around 650,000 international students annually. Seven of Australia’s universities feature in the top 100 ranked universities in the latest QS World University Rankings.

In Pakistan, Australia’s helping to skill-up Pakistan’s young and talented workforce. Six Australian universities have Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC) offering PhD scholarships in Australia. Macquarie University and Deakin University have agreements with Bahria University, Lahore School of Economics and COMSATS institute of Information Technology in Pakistan, fostering research collaboration and student exchanges, she maintained. The University of Southern Queensland is delivering BBA and MBA programs in Pakistan and the University of Newcastle is offering dual Master degree programs in partnership with Superior University Lahore. Many other Australian universities are engaging with Pakistani institution and the HEC on future collaboration, the High Commissioner added.

Australian expertise in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is also creating opportunities in Pakistan including in curriculum development and through twinning arrangements where part courses are delivered in Pakistan and part in Australia, offering Pakistani students an internationally recognized Australian qualification. In 2017, FAFE Australia and the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) Pakistan signed a MoU to promote cooperation between Australia and Pakistani training institutes and help build the capacity of Pakistan’s TVET sector, she maintained.

The high commissioner said that Australia and Pakistan were actively exploring avenues to expand trade and investment, particularly in education, agribusiness (including animal husbandry), mining, energy production, sustainable water management and the cotton textiles value chain where Australian expertise was world class.

Margaret Adamson said that Australia Day was a celebration of Australian democracy, history, landscape and ethnic diversity. Around three quarters of Australia’s population was born or has at least one foreign born parent, including more than 60,000 people of Pakistani origin. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been living in Australia for more than 65,000 years. This year, Australia Day offers a great opportunity to reflect on the depth and breadth of the relationship between our two nations as 2018 marks the 70th anniversary of Australia’s opening of a High Commission in Karachi, following Australia’s formal recognition of the new nation of Pakistan in 1947.

“I am pleased to note that our two countries have just been elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council for 2018-2020 and we look forward to working with Pakistan in support of human rights for all of our citizens and of men and women and girls and boys globally.”

Pakistan and Australia also have a shared commitment to combatting terrorism and extremism in all its forms. Australia stands in solidarity with the people of Pakistan in the great human and economic cost they have borne as a result of terrorism and violent extremism.

At last, she claimed that Pakistan has great potential to grow in various sector including tourism, agriculture, mineral, livestock, gem and jewelry but it all required sustainable environment.

Published in Daily Times, January 27^th 2018.