Daily Times

Pakistan`s Ambassador to Italy, Jauhar Saleem, Thursday said Italy was expected to be a one b dollar export market for Pakistan in the current financial year 2021-22.

The country’s exports to Italy had reached an all-time high of $805m during the first nine months of the financial year, he said while talking to the media through video link from Rome.

Ambassador Jauhar said the value-added sectors were the main drivers of the growth, which caused a trade surplus of $ 372m during July 2021 to March 2022, which was 65pc higher than the previous year.

Despite difficult conditions propelled by the pandemic, he said, Pakistan had registered an impressive trade growth of 41pc with Italy in the first nine months of current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

To a question, the ambassador stated that despite false and fabricated Indian claim over Basmati`s exclusive Geographical Indication (GI) rights in the European Union and Italian market, Pakistan maintained its position as the market leader in rice export to Italy with 38pc share against only 12pc by India.

He said following Brexit, Italy was now home to the largest Pakistani diaspora in the EU. The workers remittances from Italy in nine months this year reached $639m, which marked a 48pc increase over the last year. It was an all time high figure, making Italy the biggest source of remittances for Pakistan in the EU and the 7th largest in the world, he added.

The ambassador said the growth streak would likely to continue in the last quarter to take the workers remittances from Italy to around 1b dollars.

As regards investment, industrial and technological cooperation, Ambassador Saleem mentioned various ongoing initiatives and said Italian firms were keen to invest in the fields of energy, food processing, leather, textile, construction and furnishing.

He added that the embassy was promoting joint venture (JV) mode for increased Italian investment in Pakistan that would help in technology and skills transfer.

He also highlighted the initiatives in tourism; especially in terms of capacity building of Pakistan’s tourism sector through Italian experts.

Ambassador Saleem also shared that Pakistan and Italy were working on a labour agreement that would give it comprehensive access to the Italian labour market.

Pakistan had shared the draft agreement with the Italian authorities and formal negotiations would start soon, he added.

He stated that Pakistan had been included in the Italian Seasonal Work Visa for 2022 also, which would offer many opportunities for Pakistani workers in the agriculture and services sector to work in Italy.

The ambassador said Italy was expected to allow 69,700 seasonal workers from selected countries in 2022 to work in the country.

He also elaborated various initiatives for promoting welfare of the Pakistani diaspora in Italy.

Responding to a question, the ambassador said the 4th Biennial Review of European Union (EU) GSP- Plus was in progress and Pakistan was expecting an EU Commission’s monitoring visit this summer. He expressed optimism about the outcome of the review.

He added that the new GSP scheme was being debated in the EU Parliament and the embassy was engaging Italian members of the European Parliament, especially from Trade and Foreign Affairs committees, so that Pakistan’s feedback as beneficiary of the existing scheme was reflected in the parliamentary debates.