20000224

Pakistan

to export

tractors, rice

to Iraq

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Pakistan will export 2,000 tractors to Iraq to help develop mechanised agriculture in the country. In addition to this Pakistan will also supply 25,000 tonnes of rice.

This was revealed by Tariq Ikram, minister of state and chairman of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), at a dinner hosted by Javed Chinoy, chairman, Prgmea, in honour of the visiting Asean delegation at a local hotel on Tuesday.

He told the select gathering of Pakistani and Asean businessmen that the export orders were secured during a visit to Baghdad recently by a high-level Pakistani delegation led by Abdul Razak Dawood, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Production.

The EPB chairman said that inspite of tremendous trade opportunities between Pakistan and Asean the amount of joint trade is only 10 million dollars, which is negligible. "As a marketing and sale executive, I am fully aware that trade could only be developed with frequent exchange of visits among the two regions and cordial relations and trust lead to signing of business deals.

Tariq Ikram said that to boost exports Pakistan would have to resort to aggressive marketing and market oriented policies taking in view of our competitive edge. Both the government and exporters will have to work together in harmony.

He said that interaction with the Asean delegation in last two days had proved an eye opener for him. Business opportunities between Pakistan and the Asean region had been identified during meetings with the visiting Asean delegation and now the main issue was how quickly and effectively we could exploit these opportunities.

The EPB chairman exhorted the businessmen to prepare business plans and execute them before the next meeting of the Pak-Asean Business Council scheduled to be held in Manila in April next year.

Addressing the dinner reception, Syed Amin al-Jeffri, chairman, Pak-Asean Business Council, invited Pakistani businessmen to form delegations to visit Asean countries to project their products in the market. He said that the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry was already in the process of preparing a visit of a trade delegation to Malaysia and Indonesia.

He said the council would put its influence for creating diplomatic presence of some Asean countries in Pakistan and vice versa which would help in smooth flow of people, goods and services between Pakistan and Asean countries. He exhorted Pakistan businessmen to continue frequent exchanges with the Asean businessmen.

Javed Chinoy welcomed the Asean delegation and said that the Pak-Asean Trade Facilitation Workshop had afforded an ideal opportunity to learn from the trade and fiscal policies of the Asean countries.

He was confident that the decisions makers in Pakistan would strive hard to implement those policies for the development of national economy.

He said that as the world moved towards a global market-oriented economy Pakistan and Asean countries, taking advantage of their natural resources, should explore the possibility of setting up joint ventures and execute technology transfers for the mutual development of trade.

Javed drew the attention of Pak-Asean Business Council towards opening of diplomatic offices of Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos in Pakistan. This will help Pakistan businessmen to visit these countries to explore market potential there.