The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on trade exchanges with its counterpart in Pakistan yesterday.
TAITRA executive vice president Simon Wang (王熙蒙) and Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Sohail Lashari signed the memorandum at a ceremony held in Taipei.
“Pakistan is an important trade partner for Taiwan,” Wang said at the ceremony, citing growing trade volume between the two countries.
During the first 10 months of the year, bilateral trade totaled US$635 million, up 20.2 percent from the same period a year earlier, Wang said.
Total trade amounted to US$629 million for all of last year, according to official statistics.
The MOU serves as the beginning of a chapter in creating new commercial opportunities for businesspeople from the two countries, Wang said.
Lashari expressed the hope that the two countries can get to know each other better and do more business.
“We shall hold hands together and make our businessmen more prosperous,” he said, adding that he was excited to see such cooperation.
Lashari also invited TAITRA to set up its 61st overseas trade office in Pakistan, offering space at his chamber’s premises rent free.
Later in the day, 48 TAITRA-organized meetings were held between 30 Taiwanese businesses and a Pakistani delegation.
The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with more than 18,000 members, was established in 1923 to promote Pakistani trade and industrial development.
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