Pakistani investors urged to tap African market

Tanzania Chamber chief suggests more meetings, exchange of delegations for better ties

ISLAMABAD:

Africa is the future for the world and Pakistani investors should visit Tanzania to explore joint venture and investment avenues in order to capitalise on the emerging business and economic opportunities in the African region, said Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) President Paul F Koyi.

During his visit to the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Koyi said Tanzania was determined to promote business relations with Pakistan and hence, despite the Covid-19 challenges, the Tanzanian business delegation had come to Pakistan to interact with Pakistani counterparts in order to explore business collaboration.

Shedding light on the disconnection between private sectors of the two countries, he said, “For the last three decades, no Tanzanian delegation has visited Pakistan.”

Therefore, more meetings and exchange of delegations were needed to know each other, build confidence and improve trade relations, he stressed. Koyi stated that being agro economies, Pakistan and Tanzania had good potential to cooperate in value addition of agricultural products. He suggested that both countries should set up joint working groups at the government level and a Pak-Tanzania business council to promote long-term cooperation between private sectors of the two sides.

Speaking on the occasion, ICCI President Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan said despite a huge potential, Africa was still an unexplored market for Pakistan. “However, now Pakistan has made the Look Africa policy to focus on this big market.”

Khan said developing close relations with Tanzania was important for Pakistan to get better penetration into the African market. He said that Pakistan’s neighbours were exporting products worth billions of dollars to Africa in which Pakistan also had competitive advantage.

The ICCI chief emphasised that with more focus and strenuous efforts, Pakistan could significantly increase its exports to Africa.

He mentioned that Pak-Tanzania trade of around $154 million in 2019-20 was much below the actual potential and stressed that both countries should focus on promoting business linkages between their private sectors.

He pointed to agriculture, pharmaceuticals, minerals, IT and tourism as potential areas of cooperation between Pakistan and Tanzania. He assured the TCCIA president that the ICCI would take a delegation to Tanzania to explore joint venture and investment opportunities.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2020.

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