"Bangladesh-bound vessels from Pakistan need to stop over in Dubai and Singapore, resulting in huge wastage of time and money," observed KCCI President Haroon Farooki at a bilateral meeting with Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) in Dhaka.

"If we want to accelerate the pace of trade between the two nations, we should introduce direct shipping line first," Farooki, who is leading a 15-member KCCI delegation, told the meeting.

Referring to the existing trade volume between the two countries, the business leader mentioned bilateral trade potential between the South Asian nations is huge and the policymakers should take proper initiatives to resolve the shipping problems to enhance trade.

"We should pressurise the policymakers of both the countries into solving the problem for the sake of trade expansion", he added.

Dwelling on the shipping problems, BTMA President MA Awal said establishment of a direct shipping link between the two nations will facilitate consignment of export items from here to Karachi port within a time span of seven days.

The KCCI chief also underscored the need for harnessing huge trade potential in other sectors besides textile and garment. These two sectors came high on the agenda during the two visits made by the Karachi trade body, including the current one.

"We can go for joint venture in the sectors of fisheries, agriculture and light engineering in light of our advantage, experience and resources," he said.

"We have to prepare a list of potential export items and then we can find out problems in exporting the products and take initiatives to remove the barriers," he suggested.

As overall trade talks often cannot identify the deep-rooted problems, Farooki also recommended exchange of visits of product-based delegation.

About trade potential, he said Bangladeshi jute and tea have huge export prospects in Pakistani market while the country can import garment capital machinery from Pakistan.

The BTMA president called upon the Pakistani delegates to reap the benefits of LDC (least developed country) status of Bangladesh and re-locate its textile units here.

"Bangladesh enjoys a number of preferential trading schemes. Therefore, any collaboration with us will create a win-win situation for both the sides in terms of export as well as creation of employment opportunities," he said.

He also said under the schemes, export of textile and clothing has grown from US $399 million in 1997 to around $ 7.5 billion in 2005-06.