EPB to hold envoys moot in December

Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) will hold the envoys and trade officers conference of Central Asian Republics (CARs) in the 2nd week of December 2004. Similarly, second conference of African diplomats will he held during 2nd week of February 2005 and third for East European diplomats in the 2nd week of April 2005.
According to EPB here on Thursday, this was stated by the vice chairman Abid Javed Akbar while presiding over a meeting of senior officials of the bureau.
In the first regional conference, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Turkmenistan will be covered and various trade related issues including trade barriers will be discussed in depth and a strategy to enhance Pakistan's exports will be devised.
Abid Javed Akbar said for the CARs conference, the ambassadors in each country had been required to elicit their view about the best venue/country for holding the conference, the participants, and the cost estimates for a 2 days conference.
Upon receipt of their response, a decision would be taken about the precise venue. Tentatively, it could be Tashkent (Uzbekistan).
They had also been requested to provide briefs on the economies of their country of accreditation and its trade with Pakistan and the best of the world.
Vice Chairman EPB said objective of the conference was to formulate a comprehensive marketing strategy for increasing our exports to each of the CARs.
This would based on an assessment of our export potential for various products vis-à-vis our competitors in these markets.
The factors impeding our exports to the CARs would be identified including tariff structure, payment problems, visa issues and the existing regional trading arrangements and their solutions would be found, he said adding that as a part of the event, a display of Pakistani goods suitable for each market would be arranged.
The EPB vice chairman said to project the importance of these conferences for development of country-specific export strategies high ranking government officials, public representatives, prominent traders and foreign buyers would attend the conference, Abid Javed added.