Daily Times

ECO’s 10-nation alliance has an intraregional trade share of only 8pc, whereas border and land-based trade accounts for more than 70pc of trade between geographically contiguous countries and regional alliances, according to FPCCI president Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo. He was speaking at the 4th ECO Business Forum, which included all 10 presidents of their respective countries’ national chambers of commerce and industry (CCIs).

To increase intra-regional trade, investments, joint ventures, large-scale trade expos, and B2B contacts and networking, Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo urged the implementation of ECO Vision 2025 in full. The intraregional trade can be doubled in 4-5 years if ECO Vision 2025 is implemented, he added.

ECO Free Trade Agreement (ECO-FTA) can unleash enormous potential, as Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo also emphasised. He also called for a more inclusive and integrative approach toward the other member countries, since Pakistan, Turkey, and Iran make up 94pc of the total intraregional trade.

For this reason, the FPCCI Chairman emphasised the importance of facilitating the movement of business people, traders, and industrialists from the ECO Member Countries within the region, so that they can better understand the markets of other regional countries and explore B2B opportunities. In the interim, the business community should be given Landing Visas so that the ECO Visa Sticker Scheme can be formulated and implemented, he said.

FPCCI’s Convener of International Forums and Pakistan Chapter Head of ECO CCI, Amjad Rafi welcomed the operationalization of Islamabad–Tehran–Istanbul Corridor and also informed the 4th ECO Business Forum of Pakistan’s signing up to TIR Convention, which has opened a huge potential for trade with Pakistan through faster, more efficient and cheaper land-based shipping and logistics facilities. It was also Amjad Rafi who chaired a session on Industrial Development and Logistics: Investment Opportunities in ECO Region.

For the first time, five trucks were transported from Islamabad to Turkey via Tehran under TIR in 12 days, and another 2 trucks were transported from Islamabad to Azerbaijan via Tehran in just 5 days, according to Shoaib Khakwani, NLC’s General Manager. He continued, “This is just the beginning.”

According to Sohail Swaleh, Director of Turkey-Pakistan CCI, Pakistan’s e-commerce business will grow by 90 pc in 2020, and Pakistan will continue to be one of the most lucrative destinations for e-Commerce in the ECO region for many years to come given its largely young 225 million population and e-Commerce growth rate.