ICCI welcomes Pak-China agreement to open bilateral bank branches

ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Saturday welcomed the understanding reached between Pakistan and China during the third meeting of second phase negotiations on Pak-China FTA.
The meeting discussed to soften the requirements for establishing bank branches in each other's country and termed it highly positive development that would help in boosting bilateral trade and yield fruitful results for both countries, according to press release issued by ICCI.
LCCI president Muzammil Hussain Sabri said that Pakistan and China possessed immense potential to improve bilateral trade, however,lack of banking facilities was a big stumbling block for Pakistani businessmen to promote trade with China as presently the LCs were routed through foreign banks.
e said the opening of Pakistani banks in China would greatly facilitate trade promotion with China as the financial transactions would be routed through Pakistani banks.
He added that this arrangement would not only benefit our banking reserves, it would also help in expansion of our economy and GDP growth.
Senior Vice President, ICCI, Muhammad Shakeel Munir also appreciated the Pak-China move to re-negotiate tariff reduction on tradable goods under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
He said though Pak-China bilateral trade has improved from $4.10 billion in 2006-07 to over $ 10 billion in 2014, however, the volume of trade was highly tilted in favor of China, which needed to be made balanced for both countries. Muhammad Ashfaq Chatha, Vice President ICCI stressed that both countries should take measures to address issued related to technical barriers to trade (TBT).