Auto part manufacturers to exhibit products in US

Hoping to win export orders from American automakers

KARACHI: For the first time in the country’s history, Pakistani automobile part manufacturers are going to exhibit their products in Detroit, US in the hope of increasing their exports.

A delegation of 14 Pakistani companies left for the US to participate in the Distinguished Innovations, Collaboration and Entrepreneurship (DICE) exhibition, which is going to be held on May 25. Business-to-business meetings will be held the next day.



Before the exhibition, the delegation of the Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (Paapam) will visit production plants of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Ford Motor, where they would invite the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) representatives to attend the exhibition and see the products made by Pakistani vendors.

“We are very much hopeful of getting orders from the American automakers,” Paapam Senior Vice Chairman Mashhood Ali Khan, who is leading the delegation, told The Express Tribune.

Twenty-four representatives of Pakistani companies are part of the delegation. Paapam members will also meet the local community to encourage them to invest in Pakistan.

The delegation is going to meet tier-1 and tier-2 OEMs and brief them about the auto parts that Pakistan can provide. Upbeat about the improving security situation in Pakistan, the main aim of the participants is to attend the exhibition and meet the OEMs to promote auto parts and accessories in the international market.

The companies, which see a huge potential for Pakistani auto spare parts and accessories in the international market, are bearing the cost themselves.



“They have no financial support from the government, except that the state is making positive policies for foreign investors to invest in Pakistan,” Paapam said in a press release.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is generating a lot of interest among international investors. Pakistani auto part vendors are already exporting their products to about 40 countries around the world.

DICE is an umbrella programme under which many platforms are actively working in Pakistan. The main objective of these platforms is to jump-start the cycle of innovation necessary for the country’s sustainable growth, progress and economic prosperity.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22^nd, 2016.

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