20000401

EDF Board meets on 7th MoC asks FPCCI to devise plans for promoting trade with Iraq

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The 19th meeting of the Board of Administrators of the Export Development Fund (EDF) will be held in the conference room of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) here on April 7. Abdul Razak Dawood, Federal Minister for Commerce, will preside over the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce has requested the FPCCI to devise a programme of action for promoting trade between Pakistan and Iraq in the light of agreements signed with its Iraqi counterparts.

During the 7th session of Pak-Iraq Joint Ministerial Commission held in Baghdad from February 12-14, 2000, the FPCCI had signed two protocols of cooperation with the Iraqi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The basic aim of these protocols is to facilitate and promote economic cooperation between the private sectors of the two countries as well as increase the volume of trade.

The Ministry of Commerce is also planning to send a high-level delegation, under the federal commerce minister or chairman of the Export Promotion Bureau, to participate in the Agriculture Fair in Iraq from May 26-30, 2000.

The focus of cooperation will be an agricultural machinery, rice, engineering services, power equipment, insulation, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas. This visit will be a followup of the previous visit undertaken in February, 2000. The delegation is also likely to hold bilateral meetings in Syria preferably on the return journey via Damascus.

It is envisaged that the delegation will mainly comprise businessmen who had visited Iraq last February. However, the FPCCI has been asked to indicate names of businessmen who would also like to be included in the delegation.