President of Kano Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (Nigeria), Umar Farouk said that Nigerian companies can benefit from Pakistan's expertise in various sectors of the economy. He said this during a meeting with members of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) at KCCI's pavilion at TEXPO.
The meeting was aimed at to looking for opportunities of enhancing trade and investment, besides exploring the possibility of undertaking joint ventures in the textile sector. To a query about Nigeria's investment policy, he informed that the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) gives numerous incentives and tax holidays to foreign investors.
Head of Chancery, High Commission of Pakistan in Nigeria Asim Ali Khan, in his remarks, urged the business and industrial community of Karachi to personally witness the Nigerian economic activities which was capable of delivering lucrative businesses to Pakistani business community. He said that Indian, Lebanese, Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Turkish business communities have been successfully doing business and earning substantial profits from the Nigerian market but unfortunately, Pakistani business community was not entering into this market which needs to be addressed.
During a meeting with Nigerian delegation, President KCCI Younus Bashir stressed the need to effectively highlight the business opportunities in Nigeria and clarify a number of misconceptions about the security situation of Nigeria where many companies from developed countries have been successfully doing business without any fear.
He was of the opinion that currency devaluation of many African countries including Nigeria was a major reason which discourages Pakistani business community to enter into the African market.
The KCCI held numerous meetings with various foreign delegates from Japan, Kuwait, China, Nigeria and other countries who visited KCCI's pavilion at TEXPO Pakistan with foreign delegates were attended by President KCCI Younus Muhammad Bashir, Senior Vice President Zia Ahmed Khan, Vice President Muhammad Naeem Sharif, Former SVP KCCI Muhammad Ibrahim Kasumbi and KCCI Managing Committee members.
An 18-member delegation from Japan led by leader of the delegation Tomomichi Honda, who was also accompanied by Pakistan's Consul at the Consulate of Pakistan in Osaka, Japan Muhammad Naseer, visited KCCI's pavilion to exchange views on matters of mutual interest.
Most of the Japanese delegation members, who visited Karachi city for the very first time, highly appreciated the wide range of textile products exhibited at TEXPO Pakistan which not only provided them an opportunity to thoroughly review what Pakistan has been offering but also helped them in finding the right partner.
They also expressed willingness to enhance trade with their Pakistani counterparts and look for investment and joint ventures opportunities in Karachi. A 5-member delegation from Kuwait led by Commercial Counselor of Pakistan's Embassy in Kuwait Agha Saeed Ahmed informed that the Kuwaiti delegation has struck a couple of textile deals at TEXPO Pakistan and was fairly optimistic of finalizing more deals in near future which would help in improving Pakistan's textile exports to Kuwait.
He said that the Kuwaiti delegation was impressed to see arrangements made by the organizers to facilitate foreign exhibitors during their visit to Karachi. He stressed the need to effectively market Pakistani goods and services in Kuwaiti market and also focus on enhancing interaction with Kuwaiti business and industrial community so that Pakistan could enhance its presence in Kuwait.
"Despite the odds and difficulties, we have to coup up through interactions", he said, adding that good marketing of Pakistani products and positive media campaign was needed to counter the negative perception about Pakistan. A 20-member delegation from China, which was led by Commercial Counselor of Pakistan's Embassy in Beijing Dr Irfa Iqbal, while expressing keenness of setting up Chinese industrial and training units in Pakistan, informed that construction work on some of these projects will start soon in Punjab.
They sought KCCI's assistance in tracing potential fabrics and yarn suppliers as some of the Chinese delegates were desperately looking for the right partners who could supply these products at competitive rates. They said that although many of Chinese delegates have been doing business with Pakistani businessmen but they want to further explore new avenues of investment and look for more business opportunities.
President KCCI Younus Muhammad Bashir, while exchanging views with various foreign delegates, underscored the need to enhance business-to-business and people-to-people contacts in order to pave way for improved trade ties with friendly countries. He also highlighted the overall performance of Karachi city which contributes more than 65 percent of revenue to the national exchequer and plays the lead role in the economic development of Pakistan.
He underscored the need to clarify a number of misconceptions about Karachi which was negatively being portrayed by the media. "As you must have also witnessed that the ground reality was contrary to what was portrayed in the media reports and the law and order situation has improved to a certain extent.
The overall security situation of Karachi can be compared with any of developed cities around the world who also face similar security issues," he added. Senior Vice President KCCI Zia Ahmed Khan stated that overall climate of doing business in Pakistan has improved to a certain extent and was likely to improve further in the days to come. He said that Karachi offers immense investment opportunities and foreign delegates can look for investment opportunities and joint ventures which would surely create a win-win situation for everyone.