ISLAMABAD: The Canadian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Perry Calderwood, has said that Canadian-Pakistani bilateral trade is currently at the level of 1.5 billion Canadian dollars (CAD) and both countries are making efforts to further enhance it.
He was addressing a press conference at his residence on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation.
Perry Calderwood said that the Canada-Pakistan bilateral relationship began in the early days of Pakistan’s independence. Canada is running a development cooperation programme in Pakistan, which costs about $67 million CAD per year.
Responding a question, he said that the high commissioner in Pakistan and his counterpart in Canada are trying to engage the private sector to enhance the volume of trade between both the countries. He said that ties between the Canadian and Pakistani people continue to grow. On Kashmir, he said that Pakistan and India would have to work together to improve relations and resolve the Kashmir issue too. He condemned the Lahore blast and other recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan adding that Canada is providing support to Pakistan for combating terrorism.
Calderwood affirmed Canada is also supporting Pakistan in the sectors of health, education, women empowerment, and in strengthening democratic institution in Pakistan. He said that CPEC is an important economic development project for Pakistan and China, and Canadian companies can also benefit from it
Pakistani’s are among the five top migrating people and now around 0.3 million Pakistanis are residing in Canada. The High Commissioner revealed that the Canadian High Commission has made the visa procedure quicker than the previous one. In 2016 alone, Canada received around 40,000 refugees from Syria and other countries.