German team assesses trade avenues

Businessmen of Germany keen to establish contacts with counterparts in Karachi

KARACHI:

The German business community is keen to establish contacts with Karachi’s businessmen, said German Emirati Joint Council for Industry and Commerce CEO Oliver Oehms.

In a meeting with office-bearers of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Tuesday, he termed the visit of the German delegation to Karachi the start of a promising journey for Berlin’s community in the UAE and the German-Emirati community.

The purpose of the visit was to hold business-to-business meetings and assess the trade and investment opportunities in the economic hub of Pakistan.

Speaking on the occasion, German Consul General Holger Ziegeler said that the first physical visit of a German delegation to Pakistan during Covid-19 showed the keen interest of German firms in establishing business ties with the business community of Karachi.

He added that Berlin and Pakistan had completed 70 years of bilateral relations and during this time, both countries cooperated with each other in several fields.

Businessmen Group Chairman Zubair Motiwala stressed that Karachi should be the next big destination for the German business community as the port city provided over 60% of revenue to the national exchequer and held more than 50% share in the country’s exports.

He offered KCCI’s premises for setting up an office of the German-Emirati Chamber of Commerce and Industry, citing that most of the export consignments including textile were sent to Germany by Karachi-based exporters.

He promised full support of the local business community to the delegation. “There is a vast scope for German businessmen to expand trade ties with Pakistan,” he said.

He lamented that due to the lack of proper marketing, the world was unaware of a variety of products produced by Pakistan.

He invited German companies to examine Pakistan’s imports and produce the same merchandise through joint ventures with Pakistani firms.

“This will help save logistic expenses and enable German companies to supply the manufactured goods to the entire region,” he said. “Germans must invest in Pakistan and we can easily find the right partners for them in each sector.”

KCCI President Shariq Vohra voiced hope that business-to-business meetings between the German delegation and Karachi businessmen would prove fruitful and assist in deepening the linkages between members of the two chambers.

He expected the meeting to pave the way for the relocation of German and Emirati companies to Karachi.

“The city offers profitable business opportunities and immense facilities for trade, investment and joint ventures for the German businessmen and industrialists,” he said.

“The foreign direct investment climate in Pakistan is conducive and this is the best time to invest in various sectors such as technology, health care, education, manufacturing, telecommunication, hospitality and tourism.”

He was of the opinion that Pakistan needed to follow the example of German small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to improve its economic performance. He pointed out that among all the countries, in Germany the SMEs contributed the most to the country’s economy.

He also extended full support of his chamber to the German delegation for enhancing bilateral trade, investment and business ties.

KCCI Senior Vice President Saqib Goodluck, Vice President Shamsul Islam Khan, former vice president Muhammad Idrees and KCCI Diplomatic Missions and Embassies Liaison Sub-committee Chairman Junaid Mundia also attended the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2021.

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