Daily Times

The corporate sector in the country must fully exploit the potential of vast scope of halal food exports in global markets as its current size $2 trillion is expected to touch the level of $3 trillion by next five year.

Talking to a delegation of halal food exporters here on Sunday led by Shabir Ahmad, Meher Kashif Younis said there were enormous opportunities for cooperation in “Halal Food Market” between Pakistan and Malaysia and this sector in Malaysia had an extensive network of value-added Industry and multinational companies that could help Pakistan to connect with the global supply chain. He said that traditionally halal food includes meat,poultry,seafood,fruits and vegetables, dairy products, grains,oil, fats, waxes and confectioneries that could be exported at competitive price in the emerging global market by bringing value added products. He said there was a FTA between Pakistan and Malaysia to bring the business communities of both countries closer to make it more effective. He said Pakistan should be partner and catalyst for reform to drive sustainability and to contribute to our collective goal of shared prosperity.

He said Malaysia can play a major role in providing Pakistan with economic and trade opportunities in the Association of East Asian Nations(ASEAN) regional block. Meher urged the government to undertake concerted efforts to review existing policies and restructure investment strategy to ensure that implementation of high impact projects could be expedited. He said our new investment strategy must provide the necessary impetus to pursue high technology and sustainable investments as well as to intensify innovation, striking a balance between economic and environmental sustainability while reducing dependency on foreign labour in line with global benchmarks in environment, social and governance.

He stressed the urgent need of frequent exchange of visits of chambers and associations of either countries for direct one on one interaction with each other besides leveraging on each other’s strength and capacity and work together to enrich the value of investments.

Leader of the delegation Shabir Ahmad said Pakistan still remains an important economic partner for Malaysia which was demonstrated most prominently by our bilateral economic trade and investment relations which continue to grow from strength to strength despite the global challenges through the decades, he concluded.