Islamabad, 30 July 2022 (TDI): Andreas Ferrarese, the Italian Ambassador to Pakistan, called on Hina Rabbani Khar, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, on Thursday.
🇮🇹 Amb HE Andreas Ferrarese called on MoS @HinaRKhar today. MoS highlighted the longstanding friendly 🇵🇰 🇮🇹 rels & appreciated 🇮🇹 support for 🇵🇰 in GSP scheme. She underlined the need to:
-further enhance coop in trade & investment;
-facilitate travel;
-strengthen ppl to ppl ties pic.twitter.com/3w9YyXsmO6— Spokesperson 🇵🇰 MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) July 28, 2022
The State Minister emphasized the need for further strengthening bilateral cooperation in trade and investment. She also advocated strengthening people-to-people ties between Italy and Pakistan.
Furthermore, The Minister of State also highlighted the longstanding friendly relations between Pakistan and Italy and appreciated Italy’s support to the country in the GSP scheme.
Previously, in May 2022, Foreign Ministers of Pakistan and Italy, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Luigi Di Maio met in New York at a Ministerial meeting on the “Global Food Security Call to Action.”
The leaders exchanged views on various regional as well as international issues. They also discussed enhancing economic and commercial cooperation between the two countries.
In June, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan, met with the Italian Ambassador at the event of Italy’s Republic Day held at the Italian Embassy in Islamabad.
The Adviser said that “Pakistan regards Italy as a reliable partner and friend. Italy and Pakistan have a commonality of views on a broad range of international as well as regional issues.”
“The trajectory of Pakistan-Italy ties is positive and we are determined to make every effort to maintain it,” he added.
Also read: Pakistan, Italy discuss Security & Immigration
Pakistan-Italy Relations
Pakistan-Italy maintains strong cooperation and relations in both development and non-development sectors.
Italy has contributed over Euro 1 billion in development sectors, including health, rural development, agriculture, etc.
Further, Italy and Pakistan are signatories to the Income Tax treaty, which has been in force since 1992. Moreover, Italy is one of the largest trading partners in Pakistan.
The bilateral trade volume between the states grew from 1.42 Billion Euros in 2019 to 1.52 Billion Euros in 2021.
According to Andreas Ferrarese, Ambassador of Italy to Pakistan, although global trade shrank during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Pakistan’s exports to Italy grew by 22.1 % in 2021.
In May 2022, Jauhar Saleem, Ambassador of Pakistan to Italy, announced that both states would sign a labor agreement. It will provide employment opportunities for Pakistani people in the Italian market.
