Pakistan eager to trade with Jamaica - I will strongly push for a head-of-state visit – High Commissioner Khan

If Pakistan High Commissioner to Jamaica Dr Asad Khan has his way, Jamaica could shortly be on the list of countries for the next visit by President Arif Alvi or Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Hours after his credentials were accepted by Jamaica’s Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith, an excited Khan said despite the small population of his countrymen and women here, Jamaica is a welcomed addition to the number of countries sharing diplomatic relations with Pakistan.

“I will strongly push for that, but failing that, we can actually start off with ministerial exchanges. Seeing is believing. Until I arrived here, I didn’t have as clear an idea of the potential you have here. Similarly, like looking at Pakistan from a distance, persons are influenced by the stereotypes that you get from the media. So that’s where I believe we should start, with high-level political exchanges,” Khan told The Gleaner on Monday.

Pakistan, with the world’s fifth-largest population, and Jamaica, with about six million on island and in the diaspora, are a perfect fit, said Dr Khan during an interview.

Opportunities for trade, cultural and sporting collaboration, as well as high-level political exchanges, will be atop his list of priority achievements.

The Washington-based Khan is ambassador to the United States, but high commissioner to Jamaica, being a Commonwealth country. Wearing both caps is not unique to him in his country’s foreign service.

“I think there is a lot to do in Jamaica ... I was looking at our trade statistics and it is far too low. Far below the actual potential, and that’s what I would like to work on, but not merely to create one-way streams. Basically, to create win-win for both countries,” Khan told The Gleaner.

Jamaica’s appetite for foreign goods appears to be one of the doors of entry for cementing diplomatic relations.

Jamaica’s imports from Pakistan was US$1.62 million during 2017, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade updated in 2020. Man-made staple fibres, sugars, and confectionery, as well as cotton, were the top imports.

There are no available statistics on imports from Jamaica by Pakistan.

no exports from pakistan

Currently, Jamaica exports nothing to Pakistan, but goods made in that country have found its way here via exports from other countries. With its vast exports of rice, cotton, textiles and sugar, Jamaicans could see that product on the shelves, given the near-death local sugar industry which became non-competitive when preferential pricing was discontinued by Europe.

However, trade is not the only platform on which Khan hopes to build bridges.

“On the education side, we both come from the traditional British system, so we already have a lot in common there. What we don’t have are high-level political exchanges. High-level visits from either side helps to sensitise both countries to systems and bureaucracies, and pushes greater cooperation,” Khan told The Gleaner.

“The mainstay of our exports is textiles. We are also a major exporter of rice, sugar, cotton. These are the traditional ones, but you have a very strong sporting industry and you produce world-class quality of sports goods and I see opportunities there,” he expressed with delight, stressing Jamaica’s prowess in the sporting industry, especially in track and field

Pakistan produces 35,000 information technology experts per year and some have been hired by companies operating here, he said proudly, stating that the area is also another avenue for collaboration.

Both countries have collaborated at the multinational level.

“We have a history of cooperation at the United Nations and in the multinational forums. I was in New York with our Permanent Mission to the UN and we used to collaborate very closely with Jamaica, very closely as members of the Group of 77. So it’s not about numbers or size. It’s about things that we can do together,” he stressed.

An action plan is to be drafted by his office to provide the basis for more definitive cooperation, Khan told The Gleaner.