Pakistan's Far East initiative to nurture closer ties with Asian economies has paid almost instant dividends with Hong Kong trade rocketing by 33 per cent in six months.
Consul-General Tariq Puri, a trade specialist appointed last year to mastermind Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's initiative, is understandably cheered by the early results.
'It is the result of a lot of hard work and credit must go to all the players in our team here,' he said.
However, he conceded much more work was ahead as the nation sought to recover from a sharp depression in 1993 - the result of political uncertainty combined with disastrous floods.
These were a blow to Pakistan's gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for 1995. The target of 6.9 per cent has been revised downwards to 4.7 per cent.
In the face of such setbacks, the boost in Hong Kong trade is gleefully welcomed. It increased to US$331 million in the second half of 1995 on the back of boosted textile and seafood exports and Mr Puri was forecasting more than US$700 million worth of business when trade figures for 1996 were tallied.
'That will make Hong Kong our second-largest trading partner after the United States,' he said. 'The territory will overtake Japan, Britain and Germany.' The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) agreed that Pakistan's fortunes appear to be improving.
