Italy largest contributor from EU to Pakistan in remittances: Ambassador Andreas Ferrarese

Newswire

Islamabad: Italy’s Ambassador to Pakistan Andreas Ferrarese has said that Italy had become the largest contributor from the EU to Pakistan in remittances.
He said that the construction for the new embassy building was completed and soon they would relocate there.
The envoy said that Italy wanted to start a new era economic and trade cooperation with Pakistan through transfer of technology and for upgradation of Pakistan’s textile industry.

Green economy, transfer of technology for industrial sector including textiles and agro industry, construction sector, education and health are major areas of focus to extend the bilateral cooperation, he said in an interview.
Ambassador Ferrarese said that a new economic mission would also be deployed in Pakistan to enhance trade and economic connectivity, saying that there was huge trade potential in different sectors of economy which needed to be exploited. He said that new economic mission would be established in Karachi and Islamabad.

On trade situation between Pak- Italy, he said that promotion of bilateral trade between the two countries to its full potential of US $.5 billion annually during next three years from current US $ 1.7 billion was one of the top priorities of his government.
He informed that Pakistan exports to Italy were US $.731million during fiscal year 2019-20 with textile, leather, rice, ethanol, textiles articles, sets, worn clothing, cotton, apparel, crocheted, cereals, raw hides and skins, beverages and footwear.
The ambassador said that during fiscal 2019-20,Pakistan’s imports from Italy stood at US $ 521 million which included ships, boats, and other floating structures, machinery, pharmaceutical product, aircraft, spacecraft, electrical, electronic equipment, organic chemicals, iron and steel, miscellaneous chemical products, optical, photo, technical and medical apparatus.
The Italian envoy said currently, Italy was providing technical assistance to Pakistan in textiles, leather and marble sectors. He said dairy and livestock, olive and olive products, plastics, processed food and construction sector were the areas where Italy could extend its cooperation with Pakistan.

Ambassador Ferrarese said Pak-Italy Joint Economic Commission was the forum for bilateral economic engagement and was expected to meet in Rome in the last quarter of this year. He informed that out of its whole trade contribution to EU, Pakistan’s share with Italy was 10 percent which would be enhanced in future.
He underlined the importance of promoting cultural connectivity to promote bilateral trade. He said that he would also encourage exchange of students to further strengthen bilateral relations.