Italy has been supporting Pakistan in different sectors: Ambassador Andreas Ferrarese

Liaquat Ali

Islamabad: Italy’s Ambassador to Pakistan Andreas Ferrarese this week said that his country has been supporting Pakistan in different sectors.

He said Italy has the potential to become a huge trading partner of Pakistan in the European Union.

In an interaction with Pakistani businesspersons, Ambassador Andreas Ferrarese said Italy had the largest number of Pakistani immigrants in Europe and hoped that they would act as a key factor for developing people-to-people and trade relationship between the two countries.

Citing that 150,000 expatriate Pakistanis were residing in Italy, he added that they had been sending massive amount of remittances back home for the past couple of years.

Ambassador Ferrarese said Italy was the third largest economy in the European Union, after Germany and France, and it is Pakistan’s ninth biggest export destination.

“Currently, Italy is providing technical assistance to the local industry in textile, leather and marble segments,” he noted. “Pakistan needs to expand this cooperation to dairy and livestock, olives and olive products, plastics, processed food and construction.”