A delegation of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (Reap) led by Vice Chairman Rafique Suleman had a meeting with Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan at Governor House on Wednesday. According to a press release, Rafique Suleman thanked the Governor and apprised him about the performance of rice export industry during the last six months ie from July to December 2009.
He said that approximately 20 million tons of rice has been exported to various countries of the world during the last six months valuing approximately one billion dollar which is a record in rice export history. He further said that all these have been possible due to the untiring efforts of the Reap members as well as with the business friendly policies of the government.
He further highlighted the importance of Power/Electricity in this very important trade and appreciated KESC for their support to this trade, which is one of the great sources of generating much needed foreign exchange. In this regard, he informed that Reap is organising a seminar in collaboration with KESC on February 4, 2010 at Karachi. He requested the Sindh Governor to grace the occasion as chief guest.
The Reap delegation informed him about the intervention of government bodies like Passco and TCP in to the rice export trade and requested him to eliminate such activities which will badly damage the reputation of Pakistan, as the private sector extremely struggled very hard to boost the rice export from merely 300 million dollar to 2 billion dollar in a very short span of last ten years.
The Governor listened to the views/comments from the Reap delegation and assured to extend his fullest support to resolve the problems being faced by rice exporters and also showed his willingness to spare time to attend this seminar.-PR