H.E. Younos Abdul Karim, High Commissioner of Malawi to Pakistan said that his country wants to promote bilateral trade with Pakistan as both countries possess good potential to do trade with each other in many items. He said this while addressing the business community during his visit to Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) along with a delegation. Ch. Karamat Ullah, President, Trade Federation for East Africa also accompanied them.

The High Commissioner said that Malawi is taking many initiatives to create an enabling business environment and is looking for investment in various sectors of its economy including hotel industry, construction, tourism and agriculture sectors to ensure sustainable economic growth. He said that Pakistani investors should explore Malawi for joint ventures and investment. He said that the Chief Executive of Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) would visit Pakistan and ICCI should sign an MoU with him to promote business linkages between the private sectors of both countries in order to explore untapped areas of mutual cooperation. He also said that ICCI should take its delegation to Malawi to interact with Malawian counterparts and explore business collaborations. He assured that his High Commission would facilitate them in this regard.

Speaking on the occasion, Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Malawi is a landlocked country of Southeast Africa and we would like to strengthen trade relations with it to get easy access to the African market. He said that the bilateral trade between Pakistan and Malawi is negligible due to lack of information and knowledge. He termed the visit of the business delegation of Malawi to Pakistan a positive move and stressed that both countries should facilitate regular exchange of trade delegations to know each other and explore new areas of mutual cooperation.

Ahsan Bakhtawari said that Pakistan can export many products to Malawi and other African countries including textiles, pharmaceuticals, surgical instruments, rice, agricultural products, chemicals, sports goods, leather products and others. Similarly, Pakistan can import various raw materials and other needed products from Malawi and other African countries to produce exportable products for Africa. He said that the close cooperation between the private sectors of both countries would help improve bilateral trade ties. He said that ICCI has already taken its delegation to Ethiopia to explore the African market and would consider taking a delegation to Malawi. He said that ICCI would like to work with his High Commission to strengthen trade and economic ties between Pakistan and Malawi.

Maqsood Tabish, Aamir Hussain, Ch. Muhammad Ali, Abbas Hashmi, Zareef Khan, Ms. Munizeh Majid, Ms. Parveen Khan and Ms. Nasira Ali also spoke on the occasion and shared ideas to improve business relations between the two countries.