The European bloc likely to remain the biggest export market for Pakistan’s textile sector in coming years despite a huge influx of Chinese investment in the South Asian nation was emphasized by Honorary Consul General of Pakistan for Finland Wille Eerola.

However, Pakistan textile lobbies should be aware that China itself was a big exporter of raw textile products and should also focus on other export products to increase its share in the European market and reduce dependence on textiles.

For him, Pakistan is full of opportunities, especially for Nordic companies, but the country needs to improve its image at the international level.

As there is a lot of negative news being aired on international media and this is the biggest hurdle in the way of motivating Nordic companies to look for opportunities in Pakistan, he said, adding to encourage investors they had to be brought to Pakistan so they could see true picture of the country.

Eerola, who also chairs the Nordic-Pakistan Business Summit, said that he had already managed to bring many Nordic investors to Pakistan and around 80 companies were interested in pouring capital into the country.

Talking about CPEC, he said though Chinese companies were dominating the project, Nordic companies still had several opportunities to tap. CPEC is bringing China and Pakistan closer but there is always room for European companies to play their role.

He believed that such projects could only be undertaken via joint ventures with local counterparts, as it is hard for any foreign company to understand the exact ground realities. Foreign companies would help in bringing investments, technology and expertise. However, Pakistani companies right now were more inclined towards China.

Bilateral trade between the EU and Pakistan stood at €10.5 billion in 2015. However, trade between Pakistan and the seven Nordic countries remained at around €150 million. The first target should be to at least triple the trade figure in coming years.