President of ICCI Highlights Untapped Potential in Pakistan-Hungary Trade Relations

Islamabad - 23 January 2024 (Adnan Hameed) : Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) leading a delegation, visited the Embassy of Hungary in Islamabad and held a meeting with H.E. Bela Fazekas, Ambassador of Hungary to explore avenues for promoting bilateral trade and economic relations between Pakistan and Hungary. Addressing the delegation, H.E. Bela Fazekas, Ambassador of Hungary welcomed the ICCI delegation and said that Hungary and Pakistan need to increase bilateral trade and economic relations to get mutual benefits. He stressed close collaboration between the national and regional chambers of commerce of both countries to explore all untapped areas for business cooperation. He said that direct B2B meetings between the private sectors of both countries can play an effective role in strengthening bilateral trade ties. He assured that his Embassy would cooperate in promoting business linkages between the two countries to further improve bilateral business and investment relations. Speaking on the occasion, Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that bilateral trade of around US$ 80 million between Pakistan and Hungary is not reflective of their actual potential and there is a great potential to increase it. He said that both countries should develop close cooperation between their SMEs that will help boost business relations to their real potential. He said that both countries should encourage Zoom meetings between their SMEs, which will help improve bilateral trade ties. He said that Pakistan can export many products to Hungary including pharmaceuticals, surgical instruments, sports goods, IT, and cutlery products, and stressed that Hungary should increase its imports from Pakistan to get quality products at competitive prices. Faad Waheed, Senior Vice President, ICCI said that Pakistan and Hungary have good potential to enhance cooperation in the tourism sector and they should capitalize on this potential. Zafar Bakhtawari, former President ICCI and Secretary General UBG Pakistan stressed reviving the Hungarian-Pakistani Friendship Association to strengthen the people-2-people and business relations. He said that both countries should establish direct air links, which are important to improve bilateral business relations. He said that regular exchange of trade delegations should be encouraged to explore new areas of trade promotion between the two countries. Dr. Istvan GRAFJODI Commercial Counsellor of Hungary, Raja Muhammad Imtiaz, Ms. Shumaila Siddiqui, Malik Nadeem Akhtar, Tariq Jadoon and Yousaf Rajput were in the delegation.