She said that trade delegations from Pakistan headed by Ghulam Dastigir Khan, Federal Minister for Commerce, will visit Germany within next couple of months. Similarly, a German delegation will also visit Pakistan by the mid of next year. She said that Pakistan and Germany have cordial business relations, however, Germany is politically and economically well-connected with the entire world and due to this connectivity, we can take Pak-German trade to new heights.
"In this connection, the business communities of both the countries have to play their pro-active role and collaborate with each other to get maximum benefits," she added.
Lepel said that Pakistan is energy starved country and Germany can help Pakistan meet its immediate requirements through technology transfer for solar energy. She said that many German companies are already working in Pakistan. However, there are some regulatory issues which should be resolved immediately.
Regarding establishing branches of Pak-Germany business Forum and Germany Language institute etc in Faisalabad, she said that the businessmen of Faisalabad should get the membership of this forum to pave way to set up its branch in Faisalabad in later phase.
Kai Mueller Berner, Head of the Economic Section of the Germany Embassy, also addressed the meeting and said that he was fully co-operating with the business community of Pakistan for the promotion of bilateral trade.
Regarding Pak Germany business forum, he clarified that its membership is open to all genuine businessmen and every businessmen from Faisalabad can get its membership without any hassle.
Earlier, President FCCI Chaudhary Muhammad Nawaz welcomed the German guests and said that Faisalabad is the third largest and premier chamber of Pakistan.
It has more than 5000 members within its fold who represent all segments of the economy. He said that the FCCI is continuously projecting the problems confronted by the business community at different forums and in this connection, the FCCI is regularly holding meetings with the policy makers and foreign envoys etc.
Jamil Ahmad, Vice President FCCI said that Pak German relations have been established since 1950. Germany being one of the major economies of the European Union is included among top trading partners of Pakistan. He told that bilateral volume of Pak Germany trade in 2014 is US $2.71 billion in favour of Pakistan. Pakistan exported US $1.69 billion worth of goods to Germany while imports stood at US $1.02 billion. However, he said that still there is room to further expand this trade. He said that the FCCI and Germany embassy in Islamabad should exploit their offices to bridge the gap between business communities of the two countries. He also stressed the need for regular exchange of specific trade delegations and single country exhibition.
Syed Zia Alamadar, SVP FCCI said that the Germany people are very near to the heart of Pakistanis because of their reliability and commitment. He also lauded the support of Germany for Pakistan to get GSP-Plus Status and hoped that it would continue to support Pakistan case for extension in GSP-Plus Status.
Before the start of the meeting, on the request of Chaudhary Nawaz, President FCCI, the participants of the meeting observed one minute silent to pay tributes to the people who had lost their lives in tragic incidence of Paris.
Later on, former President FCCI Engineer Suhail Bin Rashid presented a shield to Germany Ambassador. Former Vice President Inam Afzal also decorated Kai Mueller-Berner with FCCI pin. Salman Aslam, a renowned exporte,r also presented a gift to German Ambassador.