FAISALABAD: Joint Ministerial Commission of Pakistan and Kenya will be held in Islamabad in December this year in order to discuss futuristic economic policies to fully exploit the one billion dollar trade potential of the two countries.
Addressing the members of Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI), Professor Julius Kibet Bitok High Commissioner of Kenya said that private sector and business community of the two countries has to play its pivotal role in enhancing the bilateral trade and in this connection the Kenyan High Commission was ready to extend full support to the potential investors.
Commenting on the issue of duties on textile export, he said that FCCI should make recommendations to Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) to resolve this issue.
He said that Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is best tool to resolve the duty related issues and hence both counties should start negotiations leading to FTA.
He said that Kenya is also organizing a trade and investment conference to highlight the investment opportunities in Kenya. He invited the FCCI members to attend this conference and assured that he will also lend maximum support to FCCI to ink MOU with National Chamber of Commerce and Industry Kenya. He also offered the business community to visit “Safari” in Kenya and told that online visa system has been introduced to facilitate the foreign visitors and tourists.
He also appreciated the proposal of organizing single country exhibition and exchange of trade delegations and said that it will help the business community of two countries to understand each other and discuss the opportunity to launch joint venture, particularly, in the field of textile and value added sector.
He said that Kenya is strategically located and Pakistani businessmen could also have direct access to Uganda, Tanzania, Ruanda and Burundi. He said that maximum business in Kenya is in the hands of Kenyan Asians. He further told that investment in Kenya is safe as there is no load shedding while the government is heavily investing in new power projects for the speedy industrialization of the country. He also denied that in the history of Kenya, any Pakistani was ever deported for that country.
