‘Pakistan unaware of African market’s potential’

Envoy urges businessmen to search for investment avenues

KARACHI: Rwanda's Honorary Consul General Farooq Aazam Khawaja has urged the business and industrial community of Karachi to effectively penetrate Africa and explore this huge untapped market of more than 1.25 billion people living in over 55 countries.

He, however, aired deep concern over the lack of awareness of the trade potential and lucrative investment opportunities in the African market, said a statement issued by the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Friday.

In a meeting with KCCI members at the chamber, the consul general said recent reports of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, African Development Bank and other financial institutions had highlighted the promising African market, which offered countless trade and investment avenues.

China, India, France, Japan, the European Union, the United States and others are taking keen interest in the African market as they have fully realised its potential. But, he regretted, "we, the Pakistanis, remained totally unaware of."

The envoy revealed that Rwanda was the third easiest country to do business in the African region where Pakistani companies could be registered without any hassle in just a day. "It has excellent business climate with no problem at all in terms of electricity, infrastructure, sewerage, cleanliness and other industry-related facilities."

He suggested that the business community could enhance trade and invest in different sectors of the African economy including pharmaceutical, infrastructure, textile and many others. Rwanda has been recording a strong growth of 7-8% for the past many years and every year around 900,000 visitors come to the country.

Earlier, KCCI President Shamim Ahmed Firpo stated that during fiscal year 2016, Pakistan exported goods worth $14.6 million to Rwanda against $4.8 million in the previous fiscal year, which was an appreciable rise but the volume was still very low.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2017.

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