LAHORE – Ambassador of Egypt Ahmed Fadel Yacoub said on Friday that asector-specific trade delegation from Egypt would visit Pakistan from May 2to explore trade and investment opportunities.
Talking to LCCI President Almas Hyder and Vice President Faheem-ur-RehmanSaigal at Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry, he said, “I am here with asimple message that Egypt wants to do business with Pakistan.”
The ambassador said that brotherly and historic relations between the twocountries should be reflected in trade as both countries have a lot ofpotential. He said that Egypt is importing rice via Dubai and wants toimport this commodity from Pakistan, adding that Pakistan is a country withover 200 million people and a big market for Egyptian businessmen.
He said, the bilateral trade balance does not exceed 200 million dollars ayear which does not reflect the potentials of both countries.
He said that Egypt is a country with a strong and flourishing economy. Hesaid both Egypt and Pakistan enjoy historical relations that date back toeven before the establishment of Pakistan. The ambassador told that AllamaIqbal visited Egypt many times.
He said that Pakistani businessmen want to do business with Egypt wouldhave extra benefits. He said that Egypt wants to encourage trade and jointventures would give priority to imports from Pakistan.
He invited the Pakistani businessmen to come Egypt and explore trade andinvestment opportunities. He said that improvement in legal framework toprotect the business would also help boost trade and economic ties.
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LCCI President Almas Hyder said that Lahore Chamber is planning adelegation for Africa to establish new business contacts. He said thatEgypt Embassy has always responded positively to any initiatives taken byLCCI like Ambassadors’ Dinner, OIC Conference and Africa Day etc.
Almas Hyder said that close relations between two countries are not fullyreflected in two way trade. Egypt comes at 40th and 39th placesrespectively among the top importing and exporting destinations forPakistan. For exploiting untapped potential both Egypt and Pakistan need toexplore opportunities jointly.The total size of bilateral trade came down to dollar 208 million in 2018which was dollar 231 million in 2017.Pakistan’s exports showed some improvement during that tenure by reachingdollar 83 million from dollar 77 million. It was due to decline in importsfrom Egypt to Pakistan which decreased from dollar 154 million to dollar125 million in last two years. Pakistan exports woven fabric, cotton yarn,medicaments and some surgical instruments to Egypt. The imports from Egyptconsist of sanitary towels, seeds and raw cotton etc.
LCCI President said, Pakistan being an agricultural economy can supply bothsemi-processed and processed foods to Egypt. In 2018, Egypt imported wheatand meslin worth dollar 2.6 billion, maize worth dollar 1.7 billion, meatworth dollar 1 billion and sugar dollar 0.8 billion. Let Pakistan manage totake some share in these items.
He said that Egypt is considered to be one of the top destinations in theworld for tourists. Pakistan offers a wide spectrum of tourism ranging fromreligious to historical places and ancient civilizations to modernarchitecture.
“We have utilised only a fraction of the tourism potential available in ourcountry. We would like to take benefit of expertise and techniques adoptedby Egyptians to attract maximum foreign tourists,” he said.
