Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) stressed that the business class of Pakistan and Niger should focus on exploring business matchmakings and partnerships as both countries have good potential to enhance business relations in many fields including agriculture, textile, food products, pharmaceuticals, auto industry and mining. He said that by developing close cooperation with Niger, Pakistan could get better access to the huge African market for trade and exports. He said this while addressing a dinner reception hosted in honour of a business delegation of Niger Republic that visited Pakistan led by their Commerce and Trade Minister Gabo Sabo Moctar.
Niger’s Minister for Investment Zakaria Wergo, Secretary Industry Abdoulaye Boubacar, prominent businessman Saleem Gado Sabo and others were in the delegation. Abdul Razak Dawood Advisor on Commerce and Investment, Pir Noor ul Haq Qadri Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ali Sirohey, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Niger and members of local business community were present at the occasion.
Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan said that Africa was a big market and Pakistani entrepreneurs should get better penetration into Niger’s markets that would enable them to fully tap African region for trade and investment. He said that Pakistan was producing many quality products including textiles, rice, pharmaceuticals, surgical instruments, IT products, light engineering goods, sports & leather products and emphasized that Niger’s business community should focus on importing these products from Pakistan that would also help in further improving bilateral trade between our two countries. He assured that ICCI would fully cooperate in connecting the entrepreneurs of Niger with right partners in Pakistan. Speaking at the occasion, Niger’s Minister for Commerce and Trade Gabo Sabo Moctar said that his country was eager to attract foreign investment and has taken steps to improve business climate, therefore, Pakistani investors should focus on Niger for JVs and investment. He said that his government was planning to establish special economic zones (SEZs) for Pakistan to invest in various sectors. He said that the Pakistani investors could invest in Niger in infrastructure development, agriculture, textiles, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and other industries. He said that promoting trade with Pakistan in multiple sectors was the priority of his government and hoped that their current visit to Pakistan would be helpful in setting up some sustainable business partnerships between the two countries.
The businessmen of Pakistan and Niger interacted with each other at the dinner reception and exchanged views on potential areas of mutual cooperation. They also discussed setting up a joint working group for exchange of experiences at policy and operational levels to establish SEZs, so that both countries could build long-term trade relations.