TDAP advice: ‘Market products effectively, country can hit $50b export mark’
“I know there are energy and security challenges due to which business people are hesitant to visit Pakistan,” Naqvi said while speaking to select journalists on the second day of Expo Pakistan 2012 at the Karachi Expo Centre on Friday.
“We can overcome almost all these problems if we increase our investment in marketing local products properly.”
Sitting in a spacious room at the expo centre, Naqvi looked quite pleased to see a large number of foreign delegates, who had come to visit the Expo. The huge interest of foreign businesspersons has further strengthened his expectation that this year export orders will reach $1 billion in the four-day exhibition.
TDAP is expecting more than 1,000 foreign business persons from 70 countries during the Expo. The fair will conclude on Sunday after which TDAP officials will inform the media about the foreign orders received.
Just when the TDAP chief executive was briefing journalists about his meetings with foreign delegates, the representatives of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) were busy meeting with foreign delegations on the same floor at the expo centre.
Many Pakistani high commissioners, consul generals and commercial counsellors, posted abroad, were leading foreign delegations and facilitating them in their meetings with Pakistani counterparts.
Consul and Head of Mission of Pakistan in Osaka, Japan Iqbal Thaheem was one of them, who was leading a Japanese delegation of 40 businessmen.
Over 60 Japanese businessmen were visiting the exhibition, their biggest delegation to Pakistan in the last six to seven years, Thaheem said, adding most of the Japanese businessmen were interested in Pakistani textiles and food.
“Just today a Pakistani company has signed an agreement with a Japanese company for export of bottled mango juice to Japan. The company has a demand for around three million bottles per month, but initially it will import just 10,000 per month,” he said.
Japan imports most of its food items that makes it a highly attractive market for Pakistani food companies.
Consul General of Pakistan in Sydney, Australia Azam Mohammed said Australian businessmen, who were visiting Pakistan, were mainly interested in importing textile products, spices and mangoes.
“Australia is a big market for Pakistani mangoes where exporters can get best prices because of a 500,000-strong South Asian diaspora,” said Mohammed.
Talking to The Express Tribune, FPCCI President Haji Fazal Kadir Sherani expressed the hope that Pakistani businessmen would get $1 billion worth of export orders from the Expo. “We appreciate the efforts of TDAP and we are also hopeful that this event will get the desired results,” said Sherani.
Newly elected KCCI President Muhammad Haroon Agar said the first two days of business-to-business (B2B) meetings between foreign and local businessmen had been very positive.
“More than anything else, these businessmen will go back to their countries and encourage their colleagues, who are reluctant owing to security reasons, to visit Pakistan for business meetings,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 6th, 2012.
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