The mayor of Houston (Texas, the United States) has expressed the desire to bring a trade delegation to Karachi in September 2022, which will hold meetings with government officials and local trade bodies, revealed Houston-Karachi Sister City Association (HKSCA) President Saeed Sheikh.
In a meeting with office-bearers of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Tuesday, he voiced hope that the visit of high-profile delegates would be beneficial for the business community.
He said that the association was looking forward to facilitating the signing of a memorandum of understanding or memorandum of cooperation between the Houston Port and Karachi Port Trust so that business communities of the two cities could be provided with numerous facilities including warehouses at ports.
He stressed the need for making collective efforts to further strengthen the existing trade and investment ties between the business communities of Houston and Karachi.
Sheikh emphasised the need to explore new avenues of trade and investment cooperation, encourage business-to-business and people-to-people interactions along with organising trade promotion activities including the visits of delegations and exhibitions in both cities. Advising Karachi’s business community to improve ties and hold follow-up meetings with the Greater Houston Partnership (GHP), he mentioned that GHP “is the strongest trade body in the US, as corporate offices of more than 500 firms are based in Houston”.
In 2012, GHP, KCCI and HKSCA signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate mutual interest in the fields of export/ import, investment/ business climate and other commercial activities, he mentioned.
“We need to improve connectivity between the KCCI and GHP by effectively utilising the important memorandum of understanding,” he added. Responding to the intention of KCCI president to send a delegation to Houston this year, Sheikh assured him that the delegation would be fully facilitated by organising maximum number of trade promotion activities and meetings.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 23rd, 2022.
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