Pakistan High Commission Canada announced that Pakistan’s exports to Canada registered a 24 percent increase. In 2021, the trade between the two countries stood at around CAD $1.25 billion worth. Pakistan imports mainly edible oils, pulses, and lumber from Canada and exports leather goods, apparel, and textile.
In 2021, Pakistan’s imports from Canada recorded an increase of 6 percent, and the exports increased by 24 percent, taking the trade between the two countries beyond the CAD $1 bn ballpark. Out of this CAD $1.25 billion trade, Pakistan’s export, according to United Nations Comtrade, amounted to CAD $460 million.
Pakistan exports to Canada register 24 % increase as bilateral trade between both countries exceeds CAD$1.25 billion in 2021. https://t.co/uOjr2vrVuF
— Pakistan High Commission Canada (@PakinCanada_) March 7, 2022
Talking about the trade potential, last month, the Canadian high commissioner to Pakistan, Ms. Wendy Gilmour, said that there was a very high trade potential that needs to be capitalized on.
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The High Commissioner said that the two countries have over a billion dollars in two-way trade, primarily in commodities, agriculture, soft lumber and logs and leather goods going towards North America and scrap metal coming from Canada to Pakistan, and that’s where the future of the trading relationship lies.
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She also added that information technology and communications presented a lot of potential for increasing the trade volume and worth and that they should be exploited.
“We’ve seen some very successful Canadian companies enter the Pakistani market to take advantage of English-speaking, educated software engineers and other specialists that can contribute directly to the global growth of these companies,” she said.
“We are quite excited by the prospect of developments in the extractive sector and declared willingness of Pakistan to look at addressing some of the historical challenges in the extractive sector.”
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In response to a question regarding visa processing, she replied that every application is considered on its own merit based on the information that is received in the applicant’s file. The Canadian government wants more students from Pakistan to go to Canada.
Canada’s immigration ministry added Pakistan to the Student Direct Stream (SDS) program in 2019. SDS is designed to streamline visa processing for eligible students. Canadian officials report that most SDS visa applications are processed in under three weeks.