LAHORE: Head of six-member delegation from Qatar Ahmed Hussain has invited the Pakistan businessmen to initiate joint ventures with their Qatari counterparts as abundant investment and business opportunities are available there in various sectors, including infrastructure, tourism, pharmaceutical and healthcare.
He was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry. The LCCI President Ijaz A. Mumtaz, Vice President Syed Mahmood Ghaznavi and Executive Committee Members also spoke on the occasion. Other members of the delegation were Managing Director of Unicon Limited Muhammad Khan , managind Director of Qatar Lubricants Fawad Rana, Managing Partner of Al-Anis Trading Co Israr Malazai, Managing Director Gulf GRC Group of Companies Pervez Iqbal and Managing Partner AIKhayarin Group of Companies Mohammad Idrees while Chairman Pak-Qatar Business Council Mehmood Arshad was also present.
Ahmed Hussain said that a single country exhibition had been designed for Pakistani businessmen in Qatar by the end of March 2015 and we would like to request Pakistani companies to take part in the exhibition to establish close contacts with their counterparts.
He said that Qatar is also in dire need of skilled manpower as Pakistan could earn huge foreign exchange through exporting skilled manpower to Qatar. He said that Qatar also needs Pakistan’s help in education, health and engineering sectors.
He also stressed the need to develop a screening mechanism.
Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI President Ijaz A. Mumtaz said that despite the fact that Pakistan and Qatar are members of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and also have close, friendly, and cooperative relations but these prolonged ties do not reflect in bilateral economic relations.
He said that from 2012 to 2013, mutual trade has been decreased from USD 425 million to USD 243 million. He said that Pakistan’s exports to Qatar were consistently declining. In 2011 , the volume of total exports to Qatar was USD 115.4 million , which dropped to USD 79 million in 2012 and remained the same in 2013 .
LCCI President said that the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry was ready to play an effective role to promote trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.
He said that Pakistani construction companies which if provided proper information can evaluate Qatar as a potential market. Likewise Qatar can benefit from cheap and abundant labour available in Pakistan for this purpose.
LCCI President said that the Chambers of Commerce like LCCI can play a very constructive role in bridging the gap of information and interaction between the businessmen of two countries.
He said that exchange of trade delegations could play a significant role in enhancing the two-way trade volume. He said that LCCI would also consider planning a businessmen delegation to visit Qatar and its surrounding states for exploring trade and investment opportunities for Pakistan.
Ijaz A. Mumtaz said that Pakistan was already exporting rice, meat, articles of apparel & clothing, bed & kitchen linens, tents etc. to Qatar but there are many other product lines which can find their place in the market of Qatar.
He said that Pakistan can supply both semi-processed and processed foods to Qatar. Other sectors include pharmaceutical, plastics, jewelry, precious stones, sports goods, footwear etc., which can cater to the demand patterns of Qatar. Similarly oil, petrochemical and especially LNG can be the sectors where Pakistan can benefit from the product lines of Qatar.
