There is a vast scope of joint ventures between Germany and Pakistan in the fields of dairy and livestock. GEA group, Germany, General Manager Export Peter Baasch stated this during a meeting with Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (Smeda) Chief Executive Officer Shahab Khawaja and dairy sector stakeholders here on Tuesday.
Peter Baasch is currently visiting Pakistan, leading a six-member German team. Smeda CEO Shahab Khawaja apprised the GEA delegation about the strategy developed by Smeda for dairy development in Pakistan.
He said that livestock production, which was an integral part of Pakistan's agricultural system, played a vital role in national economy. At present, the sector was contributing about 50 percent to agricultural economy and about 11 percent to the national gross domestic product, he added.
He disclosed that 30 to 35 million of the rural population was engaged with livestock sector, adding the income from livestock typically contributed significantly to their family livelihood. The Prime Minister had announced government's commitment to the sector to bring about a 'white revolution' in the country by establishing model dairy farms, he added.
In budget 2006-07, the dairy sector had been exempted from the sales tax and customs duty. There was no duty on import of dairy and livestock equipment now in Pakistan, he said, adding the customs duty on refrigerated vans had also abeen reduced from 60 to 30 percent.
Pakistan Dairy Development CEO Geoff Walker was also present among Central Support General Manager Iftikhar Hussain, Smeda Chief Punjab Alamgir Chaudhry and Smeda Agribusiness Manager Arshad Hussain Hashmi accompanied during the meeting.
The GEA group is a Germany-based company, which is one of the world's market and technology leaders in dairy process engineering, equipment and dairy plant engineering, which has also established its office in Pakistan.
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