Mauritius keen to enhance business with Pakistan: envoy

ISLAMABAD: High Commissioner of Mauritius Rashidally Soobadar said his country was keen to promote bilateral trade with Pakistan and could provide the much needed gateway to African markets.

The comments were made during a talk with Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh President at the Islamabad office.

Soobadar said that Mauritius was importing many products from India and China, while Pakistan could promote its exports to his country by ensuring high quality products and skilled human resources. He said both countries could also increase cooperation in the tourism sector to achieve mutually beneficial results.

“Mauritius is a stepping-stone for Pakistan to enter into the markets of Southern and Eastern Africa and Pakistan should further strengthen its cooperation with Mauritius to get better access to African markets,” he added.

The two countries signed a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) in 2007, but unfortunately, it was dumped as no efforts were made to enhance bilateral trade relations.

He assured that he would facilitate the Pakistani private sector for further enhancing bilateral trade and economic relations.

Business communities of both sides should interact with each other to boost trade volume between the two countries. “We would like to share the knowledge and expertise with the Pakistani business community,” he added.

Sheik said that the bilateral trade between the two countries was much below the actual potential. He stressed that both countries should encourage their private sectors to explore new avenues for improving trade volume.

Many Pakistani products, including meat, fruits, food, textiles products, and others could find good markets in Mauritius at competitive prices, he said, and urged that Mauritius should focus on enhancing its imports from Pakistan.

He said both countries should make efforts to establish direct air links that would help in improving people-to-people contacts and bilateral trade as well.

“Pakistan intends to have a more engaging and active relationship with all African countries. Mauritius is a gateway to African countries therefore; it offers huge opportunities to Pakistani businesspersons desirous of winning those markets,” he added.

The FPCCI President said Mauritius has a huge scope for Pakistani products, especially textiles; cosmetics, cotton, cereals, pharmaceutical, and plastic, and these marvelous opportunities should be tapped.

FPCCI Vice President Umar Masood Ur Rehman said that Mauritius and Pakistan have longstanding historical relations, and also shared almost the same tradition, culture and roots. He expressed hope that, bilateral relations between the two countries would be further strengthened.

“There is a huge scope for expansion in trade and the private sector has the responsibility to become front-runner in creating new avenues for establishing trade and investment relations.” He said that sustainable efforts were needed to give a quick boost to bilateral trade that was much below the respective potential of the two countries.

Sohail Altaf, Riaz Khattak, Abdul Razaq Sheikh, Saqib Rafiq and Asad Mashadi shared their views that Pakistani products were the best in the world and have the potential to get a suitable share in the Mauritius market. It is the need of the hour to strengthen bilateral trade relations through effective communication and connectivity between the two countries, they added.