ROME
Italy is likely to become a one billion dollars export market for Pakistan in the current financial year 2021-22 as exports to Italy have already reached an all-time high of $805 million during the first nine months (July-March) of the current financial year 2021-22.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to Italy Jauhar Saleem said this while talking to the media persons through video link from Rome on Thursday.
Saleem said the value-added sectors are the main drivers of the growth, which caused a trade surplus of $372 million during July 2021 to March 2022, which is 65 percent higher than the previous year. Despite difficult conditions propelled by the pandemic, he said, Pakistan has registered an impressive trade growth of 41 percent with Italy in the first nine months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
He said following Brexit, Italy was now home to the largest Pakistani diaspora in the EU. The workers remittances from Italy in nine months this year reached $639 million, which marked a 48 percent increase over the last year. It was an all-time high figure, making Italy the biggest source of remittances for Pakistan in the EU and the 7th largest in the world, he added.
The ambassador said the growth streak would likely continue in the last quarter to take the workers remittances from Italy to around one billion dollars. As regards investment, industrial and technological cooperation, Ambassador Saleem mentioned various ongoing initiatives and said Italian firms were keen to invest in the fields of energy, food processing, leather, textile, construction and furnishing.
He added that the embassy was promoting joint venture (JV) mode for increased Italian investment in Pakistan that would help in technology and skills transfer. He also highlighted the initiatives in tourism; especially in terms of capacity building of Pakistan’s tourism sector through Italian experts.
Saleem also shared that Pakistan and Italy are working on a labour agreement that would give it comprehensive access to the Italian labour market. Pakistan has shared the draft agreement with the Italian authorities and formal negotiations would start soon, he added. He stated that Pakistan had been included in the Italian Seasonal Work visa for 2022 also, which would offer many opportunities for Pakistani workers in the agriculture and services sector to work in Italy.
The ambassador said Italy is expected to allow 69,700 seasonal workers from selected countries in 2022 to work in the country. He also elaborated various initiatives for promoting welfare of the Pakistani diaspora in Italy.
To a question, the ambassador stated that despite false and fabricated Indian claims over Basmati’s exclusive Geographical Indication (GI) rights in the European Union and Italian market, Pakistan maintained its position as the market leader in rice export to Italy with 38 percent share against only 12 percent by India.
Responding to another question, the ambassador said the 4th Biennial Review of European Union (EU) GSP- Plus was in progress and Pakistan was expecting an EU Commission’s monitoring visit this summer. He expressed optimism about the outcome of the review. He added that the new GSP scheme was being debated in the EU Parliament and the embassy was engaging Italian members of the European Parliament, especially from Trade and Foreign Affairs committees, so that Pakistan’s feedback as beneficiary of the existing scheme was reflected in the parliamentary debates.
