President Pervez Musharraf has allowed Slovakia to open embassy in Islamabad. Slovakia Ambassador Jan Jursa stated this during his meeting with FPCCI Vice-President, Akbar Abdullah, and members of the FPCCI Managing Committee held at the Federation House.
Jan Jursa based in Tehran, Iran during the meeting said that Slovakia, whose Embassy in Kabul had been abandoned due to security problems, was considering options to open its Embassy in some other country, said FPCCI press release.
He said the hospitality of the people of Pakistan and their dynamism were plus points in favour of the opening of the Slovak Embassy in Islamabad.
The Ambassador, who was accompanied by Sikander A Ghulamali, Hon Consul of Slovakia in Karachi, informed that Pakistan's exports to Slovakia increased by 35 percent during the first four months of the 2005 compared to the same period of 2004 due to introduction of duty free regime.
Replying to a question, the envoy said that Slovakia's exports had reached $22 billion due to the consistent efforts made since introduction of free market economy to attract foreign investment.
By creating environment suitable to foreign investors Slovakia was able to attract major industrial producers of the developed countries to bring in latest technology in all sorts of machinery production, including automotive, construction equipment and chemical industrial sectors.
He said that consequently almost 92 percent of the exports of Slovakia were made to 30 developed countries.
Akbar Abdullah impressed upon the need to increase interaction between the businessmen of the two countries through exchange of trade delegations and participation in exhibitions.
Replying to a query, the Ambassador said that since Slovakia would be joining Schengen system next year it has to be very careful in issuance of visa. He assured that the recommendation of the FPCCI for the issuance of visa to its members would be favourably considered.