By Faiza Tehseen ISLAMABAD, Feb 11 (INP-WealthPK): ‘Pakistan Vision 2025’ aims to make the country economically strong and achieve a brand nation status for it. And to achieve this feat, cooperation with Malaysia, which is in a bid to regain its status of being the Asian tiger, can prove handy. Pakistan and Malaysia have the potential to take their current levels of trade to great heights as the two countries have been somewhat unable to tap into their potentials despite being close friends over the decades. This is evident from the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade, which shows that Pakistan traded multiple goods with Malaysia worth only $232.98 million during 2020. According to a report of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Pakistan has got a rebound concerning economic growth by an increase of 3.9% during the fiscal year 2020-21.This growth is expected to reach 4.0% in fiscal year 2022 as business activities gradually resume. As the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has entered the second phase overseeing the establishment of special economic zones across Pakistan, different countries, especially those along China’s landmark Belt and Road, are showing interest in developing trade ties with Pakistan. Malaysia is one of them. Although Malaysia and Pakistan already enjoy deep trading relations, CPEC will surely enhance that. Islamabad’s trade with Kuala Lumpur has increased somewhat after the signing of the Malaysia-Pakistan Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (MPCEPA) in 2007 aiming to liberalise trade and give impetus to bilateral cooperation in multiple areas. The agreement contains a special chapter to facilitate the entrepreneurs of both countries. Under the agreement, both countries have offered lucrative tariff and subsidies to enhance bilateral trade. Before this agreement, Pakistan’s exports to Malaysia did not exceed 1.5% of total exports worldwide as the highest export potential items of Pakistan mostly did not exist in the Malaysian import trade list of concession, or other competitors were exporting them to Malaysia at comparatively low rates than Pakistan. The agreement enabled Malaysia to secure certain concessions for exporting palm oil to Pakistan. However, the export volume has remained around 0.52% of the country’s total $234 billion exports worldwide. Recently, the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry members held a meeting with Charge d’ Affairs of Malaysian Embassy Mr Deddy Faisal Ahmad Saleh to discuss hurdles and opportunities for enhancing the bilateral trade. On the occasion, Mr Saleh told the Pakistani businessmen that Malaysia wanted to develop strong relations with Pakistan as it was a trade-oriented nation. “Malaysia is interested in conducting technical training programmes and workshops on industrial research and development.” Mr Saleh said as Malaysia has a good experience of promoting small and medium enterprises, cooperation in this respect would prove beneficial to strengthening the SME sector in Pakistan. According to him, Malaysia is also keen on hiring security guards from Pakistan. Mr Saleh said some other countries are outsourcing Pakistani products at cheap rates and then exporting the same to Malaysia, so by ensuring direct product trade, Pakistan can not only stop this malicious practice but can also earn a handsome foreign exchange. He emphasised that Malaysian market had a good scope for Pakistani tech professionals and information technology experts. He maintained that Pakistan can also improve exports of fruits, vegetables, rice, halal meat, textile products and other industrial goods and services to Malaysia. On this occasion, the Malaysian Business Council president Datuk Sri Nazir Meraslam also emphasised the need for enhancing the trade relations between the two countries. Speaking on behalf of the Pakistani business community, ICCI president Mohammad Shakeel Munir said Pakistani businessmen preferred to trade with Malaysia because the country held a key place in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), thus providing them linkages to other countries of the region. He said both countries can cooperate in infrastructure development, also highlighting the need for increasing the number of direct flights between the two countries. He maintained that the ICCI planned to conduct a business conference in Malaysia in near future and sought the cooperation of the Malaysian High Commission to make the event a success.