TEXT: Pakistan Japan Business Forum came into being on February 6th, 2001, at a grand ceremony at the Consulate General of Japan's official residence in Karachi. Launching ceremony was attended by Mohammad Mian Soomro, then Governor Sindh, Mr. Abdul Razak Dawood, Minister of Commerce, Industries and Production, Mrs. Shahida Jamil, Minister of Law & Justice, Mr. Sadaaki Numata, Ambassador of Japan, Mr. Akira Watari, Chairman Japan Pakistan Business Corporation Committee and Mr. Kazumi Dekiba, Consul General of Japan. The signing ceremony was presided over by the Patron-in-Chief and Ambassador of Japan in Pakistan, His Excellency Mr. Sadaaki Numata. Purpose of setting up Pakistan Japan Business Forum was primarily to improve trade and Investment between Pakistan and Japan with the assistance of respective embassies working in both countries and to support private sectors of both countries through close cooperation between PJBF & JPBCC.
To achieve the objectives of PJBF, the first B2B Joint Dialogue was held on September 03, 2001 at Karachi. Mr. Razak Dawood Minister for Commerce and Industries presided over the opening ceremony and a declaration was signed between Pakistan Japan Business Forum and Japan Pakistan Business Cooperation Committee to put efforts to bring both countries closer economically. It was decided that the Joint Dialogue will be held every year alternatively in both countries.
The 2" Joint Dialogue were held on 13th March 2002 at Tokyo, Japan which was attended by large business communities of both countries. This business dialogues helped both the institutions to bridge the communication gap and know each other and prepare for future activities.
The 3rd Joint Dialogues Business to Business and Business to Government Dialogue was held on 7th March 2005 at Islamabad, followed by 1st G2G/B dialogue. Japan Pakistan Cooperation Committee brought a 30-member delegation to Pakistan and 4 days activity was planned to include courtesy calls on the Prime Minister and President of Pakistan. During the dialogue PJBF & JPBCC mutually prepared and proposed Challenges and Goals for coming years. Revision of Convention for Avoiding double taxation between Pakistan & Japan was one of the issues highlighted by PJBF & JPBCC which was subsequently resolved by both governments. To improve quality of Human Resource AOTS, JETRO and JICA offered to organize technical and management trainings.
The 4th joint dialogue was held on 22 January 2007 in Karachi and G2G/B dialogue was held on 24th January in Islamabad. Japan Pakistan Cooperation Committee again brought 32 members delegation to Pakistan and 3 days activity was planned to include courtesy calls on Chief Minister, Governor of Sindh and the Prime Minister & President of Pakistan. Very importantly it was decided to jointly carryout a study and prepare a report to help government of Pakistan achieve vision 2030. This was followed by a visit to Pakistan of a Japanese team to assess the situation on ground and discuss with relevant persons. During the study visits were made to various government departments as well as business sectors such as automotive, textile, dairy, agriculture, education etc. Subsequently, the report was finalized over a period of 14 months that carried sources of guidance in assessing future business activities.
The 5th Joint Dialogues were held on 25th May 2009 in Tokyo Japan, where the joint study report was presented to the Japanese Government. The Pakistani delegation consisting of 22 individuals, was headed by Mr. Makhdoom Shahbuddin, Minister for Planning & Development and included Mr. Saleem Mandviwalla, Chairman BOI, Mr. Zubiar Motiwala, Advisor to Chief Minister, Mr. Mohibullah Shah, CEO TDAP, Mr. Abdul Kader Jaffer Chairman PJBF, several senior Directors of PJBF and several businessmen. During the 5th Joint Dialogue Sind Board of Investment proposed 2000 acres Japanese Special Economic Zone allotted by the efforts of PJBF for the Japanese business Community at Karachi at very concessional rates with 10 years tax free holiday.
The 6th Joint Dialogues was held on 21st March 2012 again at Tokyo. A 20-member delegation from Pakistan was headed by Zafar Mahmood, Secretary Commerce. In presence of high dignitaries of both counties PJBF & JPBCC signed an MOU to study feasibility of reduction of custom duties on textile, leather & other products, set up pilot automotive testing centers and GOJ was also requested to provide assistance in vocational training for automotive and leather industries.
The 7th Joint Dialogues was held on 10th November 2015 at Islamabad Pakistan. A 49-member delegation from Japan was headed by Mr. Tsuneo Kitamura, Parliamentary Vice Minister of METI and Mr. Teruo Asada Chairman- JPBCC. For the first time the two governments signed an MOU declaring to work on EHP amongst other matters. PJBF & JPBCC also signed an MOU repeating the points of the previous MOU about EHP, pilot vehicle testing centers, issuance of ADP, abolishment of turnover tax, etc.
The 8th Joint Dialogues was held on 10th December 2018 in Tokyo. A 24-member delegation from Pakistan was headed by Mr. Abdul Razzak Dawood, Advisor to the Prime Minister for Commerce & Textile, Industry & Production and Investment. It was agreed that PJBF and JPBCC would support Governments in preparing a Joint Action and Monitoring Plan discussed in 6th G2G/B dialogue on the same date. In a meeting headed by Mr. Razzak Dawood held in PJBF office in February 2019 in which PJBF, JETRO, MOC and CG Japan were present an Action & Monitoring Plan was discussed and finalized.
The 9th Joint Dialogues are now being held in Islamabad today, 29th September 2022. The Japanese side of over 60 will be represented by the Chairman of Japan Pakistan Business Cooperation Committee, Mr. Teruo Asada while an equally represented Pakistan side represented by Chairman of Pakistan Japan Business Forum by its Chairman, Mr. Kalim Farooqui. The government of Japan side will be led by their Parliamentary Vice Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Mr. Ryuji Satomi for the G2G dialogues with our Commerce Minister Mr. Naveed Qamar representing the Pakistan side. Deliberations of the day will form the basis of cooperation with respect to trade and investments for the way forward. Participants from both sides include business conglomerates having commercial interest between Pakistan and Japan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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