Ethiopia meets most of its needs through imports and Pakistan has great potential to export its many products to Ethiopia including pharmaceutical, surgical, steel rolls, textiles and others. This was observed by Shozab Abbas, Pakistan’s Ambassador-designate to Ethiopia during an interaction with the business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI).

Shozab Abbas said that he would share the details of products with ICCI that have good demand in Ethiopia so that the business community could capitalize on the potential opportunities for promoting exports to Ethiopian market. He said that Pakistani business community should focus on diversification of exports to get better penetration into African region. He said that he would try to arrange a display centre for Pakistani business community in Ethiopia so that they could showcase the potential of their products for exports to Ethiopian market. He said that Ethiopia was around 3-4 hours direct flight from Karachi and stressed that both countries should establish direct air links to improve trade relations. He assured that he would provide all possible support to the business community in getting better access to Ethiopian market and would also interact with ICCI members through webinars to apprise them of the emerging opportunities for exports in Ethiopia.

Speaking at the occasion, Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) said that Africa should be key focus of our business community as it offered great potential for exports. He said that Pakistan has formed a ‘Look Africa’ Policy, and it should make Ethiopia a hub of its exports to African region. He said that many Pakistani products including engineering goods, sugar, rice, agro-processed products and sports goods could find a good market in Ethiopia. He said that Pakistan could provide technical support to Ethiopia in the field of engineering, pharmaceutical, IT and many other sectors, so close cooperation between the two countries would be more beneficial for both sides. He said that the Pakistan Embassy in Ethiopia should regularly share the information about products that were in high demand in Ethiopian market so that Pakistani exporters could enhance their export to Ethiopia.

Muhammad Aslam Khokhar, Shaukat Hayat Khan, Abbas Hashmi and Muhammad Shakeel Munir also spoke at the occasion and stressed that brotherly relations between Pakistan and Ethiopia should be transformed into meaningful economic and trade relations. They said that the Pakistan Embassy in Ethiopia should play a role for frequent engagements at business-to-business level between the two countries that would help in further improving bilateral trade between the two countries.