Jamal Shahid| Islamabad 02-04-2022

ISLAMABAD: The Malaysian Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Datuk Hajah Zuraida Kamaruddin said on Friday that Pakistan and his country shared common values and culture, offering much room for expansion of relation, especially in trade.
The Minister, who was on a ten-day visit to Pakistan, was speaking as chief guest at a meeting with members of Chambers of Commerce and Industries.
The purpose of the visit was to strengthen agricultural commodities trade relation between Malaysia and Pakistan as well promoting Malaysian main agricultural commodities such as palm oil, rubber, timber, pepper, cocoa and kenaf.
Participants at the meeting learnt that Pakistan was also one of Malaysia’s largest trading partners in agriculture commodities and Malaysia had number of joint-venture projects particularly in palm oil industry at Port Qasim.
“Malaysia values Pakistan’s support and friendship and believes more should be done to increase trade activities between the two countries,” said the Malaysian minister.
The minister said this special roundtable session with Islamabad and Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce, as a relevant avenue to disseminate the latest information about Malaysian commodities among the industry players.
The minister urged the chamber members to consider doing more business and joint ventures with Malaysia particularly in the development of downstream products such as in oleo-chemical industry, natural rubber seismic bearing, rubberised road, timber doors, floor panels, wooden door, premium chocolate and pepper.
The minister also invited chamber members to participate in the Malaysia International Agri-commodity Expo and Summit (MIACES) being held in Kuala Lumpur from July26 to 28.
Prior to the meeting with the Islamabad and Rawalpindi chambers of commerce, the minister also met Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Ayub Afridi.
The two sides discussed ways to expand Malaysia’s agri-commodity market share in Pakistan, possible collaboration in research and development for agri-commodity sector and possibility of recruiting of Pakistanis in Malaysian’s palm oil plantation.
In his remarks Acting High Commissioner of Malaysia in Islamabad, Deddy Faisal Ahmad Salleh said that Malaysia’s trade relations with Pakistan had been encouraging. In 2021, the bilateral trade between Malaysia and Pakistan grew to 36.3pc compared to previous year.
“Total trade between Malaysia and Pakistan was worth $1.901 billion in 2021. And in the first two months January-February 2022, the increase is recorded at 41pc compared to the same period in 2021.
Deddy Faisal said that the minister was accompanied by a strong delegation of key stakeholders and leaders of the commodities industry.
“I wish that my Pakistani friends and brothers can take this opportunity to engage directly with the key industry leaders as well as building networking for future cooperation with them,” Deddy Faisal said.
Participants were informed that Pakistan had been an important and strategic trade partner for Malaysian agri-commodities, with a total export value of RM3.31 billion in 2021.
Malaysia’s main agri-commodity exports to Pakistan were palm oil, rubber and timber products.










