ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan-Romania Business Council (PRBC) arranged for a trade delegation from Pakistan to visit Romania’s biggest milk-producing farm close to Bucharest in order to explore potential opportunities for bilateral cooperation in the dairy and agricultural industries.
The delegation was led by Atif Farooqi, Head of Delegation and Honorary Consul-Designate of Romania in Sindh, said a PRBC press release, received here.
The delegation was briefed that the farm is a first-generation, family-owned enterprise spread over 7,000 hectares. It cultivates its own grain and silage for its cattle and sells the surplus in the market. The farm maintains 7,000 Holstein milking cows, the world’s highest-yielding dairy breed, and also raises a faster-growing breed for meat production. All operations are managed through latest computerized equipment.
The management informed that the farm daily supplies raw milk through its own tankers to a major dairy factory in Brasov, and a large biogas plant will become operational soon.
The talks between the two sides highlighted several opportunities for Pakistani businesses, including supply of professionally trained workforce and investment in the owner’s plan to expand the herd to 20,000 milking cows, as bank loans at 8–10 percent interest have become a heavy burden.
The possibilities of setting up a halal slaughtering facility for meat exports to the Middle East and other Muslim countries were also discussed. The owner expressed openness to other partnership models for mutual benefit.
The PRBC group thanked Romanian Embassy personnel and Dr. Dan Stoenescu, the country’s ambassador to Pakistan, for helping to make the trade trip a success.
