ICCI, Tanzania to work together for promoting bilateral trade

Islamabad : Africa was the future for the world and Pakistani investors should visit Tanzania to explore JVs and investment in order to capitalise on the emerging business and economic opportunities in the African region.

This was observed by Paul F Koyi, president of Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture (TCCIA) while addressing the business community during his visit to Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI).

He visited ICCI along with a delegation of Tanzanian entrepreneurs and exchanged views with Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, president ICCI and his team to promote bilateral trade and economic relations with Tanzania and Pakistan. Mian Akram Farid, chairman founder, Abdul Rehman Khan, vice president ICCI, Umar Hussain, Omais Khattak, Muhammad Shakir, Khursheed Barlas, Khalid Chaudhry and others were also present at the occasion.

Paul F Koyi said that Tanzania was determined to promote business relations with Pakistan and that’s why despite the challenges of COVID-19, Tanzanian business delegation has come to Pakistan to interact with Pakistani counterparts in order to explore business collaborations. He said that there was a disconnection between the private sectors of both countries as for the 3 decades, no Tanzanian delegation had visited Pakistan. Therefore, more meetings and exchange of delegations were needed to know each other, build confidence and improve trade relations.

Addressing the delegation, Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that despite huge potential, Africa was still an unexplored market for Pakistan, however, now Pakistan has made a Look Africa policy to focus on this big market. He said that developing close relations with Tanzania was important for Pakistan to get better penetration into the African market. He said that our neighbours were exporting products worth billions of dollars to Africa in which Pakistan also has competitive advantage. He emphasized that with more focus and strenuous efforts, Pakistan can make a significant increase in its exports to Africa.

Mian Akram Farid, chairman founder Group said that frequent interactions between private sectors and exchange of trade delegations should be the way forward for promoting bilateral trade and economic relations between Pakistan and Tanzania. ICCI and TCCIA also signed an MoU to promote bilateral trade, JVs and investment between Pakistan and Tanzania with joint efforts.