RIYADH — Pakistan's Minister for Trade and Commerce Khurram Dastgir, who came to Saudi Arabia with a 20-member delegation recently, has sought to facilitate his country's engagement with the Arab world's biggest economy which “has expanded at the fastest pace in five quarters at the end of last year,” Bloomberb News said on Tuesday. The Pakistani official noted that the world's biggest oil exporter benefits from higher crude prices and is spending billions of dollars to add jobs, build homes, infrastructures, and develop non-oil economy thereby attracting multinationals and business houses in the region. However, “Pakistan's business and industrial community has lagged behind in taking seriously the overwhelming opportunities available here,” the minister, who is an engineer by profession and a former head of the Engineering Development Board (EDB), was quoted by Bloomberg as telling more than 300 people at the Pakistani Embassy in Riyadh. “Saudi Arabia and the world market have changed; higher products and services standards have been established; packaging and presentation requirements have been raised. Therefore, Pakistan must do the same — by opting for holistic change and by looking southwest as opportunities abound here more than anywhere else,” he said. Noting that Pakistan's manpower export to Saudi Arabia which has witnessed a golden economic era “has dipped in number over the years despite brotherly and friendly relations with the Kingdom”, he said: “Pakistan's labor skills and standards have to be raised if we want to add value to our manpower export” and “match the standards and requirements being practiced in the Kingdom and elsewhere.” “This is the only way we can participate in Saudi 21st century business and economic growth,” he told the gathering which included Pakistani entrepreneurs, professionals and community leaders. More than 1.5 million Pakistanis live in the Kingdom and remit the highest amount of foreign exchange ($4.5B in 2013) to their homeland, according to one estimate. The Pakistani minister, who had met Riyadh Gov. Prince Khaled Bin Bander during his visit, acknowledged a recent statement by the prince that the “private sector is an effective partner in development as a key pillar of the national economy, representing 95 percent of the size of the stock market.” Encouraged by that statement, he said he discussed an enhanced trade and commercial ties between the Kingdom and his country through the platform of Pakistan-Saudi Business Council which is already in place. — SG
