Expo-2005: no better deals for carpet, pharma, surgical goods exporters

The Expo Pakistan did not come up to the expectations of the exporters of carpets, pharmaceuticals and surgical instruments. "The Expo has proved to be a flop as far our business is concerned," said carpet and pharma exporters on Saturday. Nadeem Sajid, a leading carpet exporter, said that the Expo drew large crowds sans foreign buyers. He said that carpet trade was not mentioned in the advertisements the EPB the placed in the newspapers.
He admitted that an exclusive carpet show would have secured more business than the present large show.
Pointing to a display mistake he said that eight carpet stalls were not given space in one place but were punctuated with stalls of coal miners and forwarding agents.
The Sindh Coal Authority stall received good response from buyers from China and South Korea in its huge granite reserves in Thar.
A I Siddiqui, of Silver Surgical Complex, said that he received a few buyers but no tangible business. The complex is the first Pakistani firm manufacturing, in a factory near Karachi, self-destructive syringes and canulas with Korean collaboration. The former product offers great prevention against killer diseases like AIDS and Hepatitis. The products are exported to Iran, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Naeem Ahmed, of UNDP, apprised Pakistani exporters at a workshop how to do business with UN agencies procuring commodities and equipment worth millions of dollars every year. He exhorted exporters to get registered with the UN Procurement Department in Copenhagen and there is great scope for supply of commodities and construction equipment and material in Afghanistan.
Addressing the Export Development Workshop on business opportunities in Iraq, Jim Sosnicky, of Iraq Development Centre of USA Embassy in Jordan, invited Pakistani exporters to take advantage of vast business opportunities in Iraq with a market worth billions of dollars.
He said that the business community in Iraq was not the target of violence and all big Iraqi firms have set up offices in Amman which has become the hub of commercial activities for Iraq.
The seminar was opened by Ahmed al Mukhtar, director general of Trade in Iraq. It was also attended by the president of Baghdad chamber of commerce and industry.