Pakistan, Italy agree to promote cooperation in textiles, footwear, stone sectors

Pakistan and Italy signed three letters of Intent (LoIs) for cooperation in Textiles, Footwear and Stone sectors at the 3rd session of Pak-Italy Joint Economic Commission (JEC) held in Rome.

During the meeting, a Memorendum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed between Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC) and its Italian counterpart ConfidustriaMardomacchine, says a statement issued by ministry of Finance here on Wednesday.

The Pakistan delegation was led by Minister of State for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan, while the Italian delegation was headed by Deputy Minister, Italian Ministry of Economic Development Ivan Scalfarotto.

The two sides reviewed the economic situation in both countries and discussed areas of bilateral economic cooperation.

Views were exchanged on the current economic conditions and prospects of enhancing bilateral commercial and investment relationship.

While noting that there was an increase in bilateral trade during the past year, the two sides agreed that the current level of bilateral trade and investment did not fully reflect the potential of their economies.

Both sides acknowledged the need of increasing the total trade flows by facilitating market access and diversifying the range of goods and services.

It was agreed to increase institutional collaboration, promote SME development and collaborate in important sectors like livestock, energy, infrastructure, oil & gas, transport management and chemicals. Both sides also agreed to remove the bottlenecks in promotion of trade.