TDAP looks to develop non-traditional export sectors

Acting chairperson says local products are generating interest in markets.

KARACHI: Secretary and Acting Chairperson of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), Rabia Javeri Agha, said that she wants to focus on jewellery, textile products and agro-based industries, as these sectors have greater export potential and consume less electricity when compared to other industries.

“I feel that there are some export based industries that have proved in the last three to four years they can easily double their exports in a very short time if they get some government support,” she said in an interview with The Express Tribune.

TDAP’s team is giving final touches to preparations for its flagship annual event ‘Expo Pakistan’, a four-day ‘Made-in-Pakistan’ exhibition that will be inaugurated by President Mamnoon Hussain on Wednesday (today) in Karachi.

Soon after wrapping up Expo Pakistan on September 29, 2013, Agha says she wants to chalk out a plan for these industries in an attempt to revive the economy.



According to her, Expo Pakistan 2013 is going to be on a larger scale than previous year’s event in terms of attracting foreign buyers and export orders. Last year some 900 foreign buyers visited Expo Pakistan and the country received orders worth $580 million. This year TDAP expects over 1,000 buyers generating business deals of over $700 million.

“Everybody knows Pakistan is facing security issues. We had two choices: either to sit down idly or go out to find new buyers and new markets. We have chosen the second option,” she said while commenting on the difficulty her team has faced in security arrangements for foreign buyers who are coming to Pakistan.

She said security is still the biggest concerns for our foreign buyers. Fortunately they are giving us a chance to prove ourselves and we want to show our foreign buyers that Pakistan is producing some of the best products in the world at the most competitive rates, she added.

This year the largest delegations of businessmen are coming from Japan and Malaysia, each with over 80 members. Some other delegations have around 40 delegates while most countries have much smaller delegations.

Many of these delegations have members who are coming to Pakistan to buy Pakistani products for large retail chains, said Agha. This means that any contract between a foreign buyer and a local seller would easily be in millions of dollars as these stores usually give orders in bulk, she added.

Most of these stores are from the Far East and South East Asian regions. Agha says that buyers from these regions want to buy Pakistani products mainly because the costs of production in these regions have increased significantly in the last few years compared to Pakistan.

“The depreciation of the Pakistani rupee in the last few years has also boosted the prospects of our products in regions where costs of production have gone up. I think this is one of the many reasons why Pakistani products are getting the attention of these large foreign retail chain stores,” she added.

Like her predecessor at TDAP, Tariq Iqbal Puri who led TDAP for over 21 months, Agha wants to focus on regional markets for Pakistani exports.

“The world is looking inwards, and the intra-regional trade is on the rise owing to the rise in transportation cost. Pakistan should forget its past, look at its future and increase its trade with regional countries,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2013.

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