Yesterday Dr. Zahid A. Khan, the Executive Director of the Russian Business Council for Cooperation with Pakistan visited the Chamber of Economy of Montenegro. Mr. Khan was hosted by the Vice President of the Chamber Mr. Ivan Saveljić with his associates.

The purpose of this visit was to learn about the economic ambient in Montenegro, its geographical and climatic advantages and investment opportunities, as well as to connect business communities of Pakistan and Montenegro.

Mr. Khan emphasized that Pakistan has good cooperation and strong ties with all great world markets, and almost all small economies, and that it was high time to make an initial step in establishing business relations with Montenegro. During this several-day visit to Montenegro, Mr. Khan has had the opportunity to be personally convinced of the stories about the beauties of Montenegro and its features, and as he said, he was surprised by common features of the two peoples as well as architectural similarity of Podgorica and the city where he comes from.

Mr. Khan used this opportunity to present the industry of Pakistan, as well as products which are mostly exported, some of which are: cotton, knitwear, leather goods, coal, rice, crops, exotic fruits and others. However, 71 species of mango are cultivated in Pakistan, while their leather goods are still sold at very competitive prices.

Given his numerous business ties in Pakistan, Mr. Khan has offered his assistance in bringing together the representatives of the two business communities and suggested the initial step to be the establishment of business cooperation between the Chamber of Economy of Montenegro and the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce.

Having in mind the special interest in investing in Montenegro, the Vice President of the Chamber Ivan Saveljić presented the investment advantages of Montenegro in relation to other countries in the region, giving a brief overview of its geographical position, good road and railway connections, that is, the connectivity of the country with the region, favorable tax policies and low tax rates, ease of company start up, the existence of free trade zones and more.

All this, according to Saveljic, helped other investors choosing to invest in Montenegro, thus among many others we have investors from Italy, Russia, Hungary, Turkey and so on.

In addition, Saveljić informed Mr. Khan about the fact that Montenegro has signed Free Trade Agreement with the EU, Turkey, Russia and CEFTA countries, which is an additional advantage in trade.

Other investment opportunities he sees primarily in tourism, hotel and textile industries, as well as the potential purchase or privatization of some of large Montenegrin companies currently facing problems.

According to Vice-President of the Chamber, Montenegro is a small country with an open economy, which is designed as an ideal "hub" destination or an initial destination for the visit and trade with other European countries. This will particularly prove to be true when negotiations on Montenegro's accession to the EU begin and in the next few years it becomes part of the great European family.

The Chamber of Economy of Montenegro, as agreed on this occasion, will be the main link for the beginning and concretization of economic cooperation with Pakistan.