Daily Times

A delegation of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry led by its President Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari on Monday returned to the country from Ethiopia after attending the Pak- Ethiopia Business Forum, which was inaugurated by the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Ethiopia.

About 70 delegates from Pakistan including ICCI delegation members were in attendance at the Business Forum, said a press release issued here.

The delegation also met with Ethiopia’s political leadership, businessmen, government officials and the local community. The delegation was received at Addis Ababa Airport by Mrs. Birtukan Ayano, State Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia. The delegation also met with the Ethiopian Minister for Industry, Minister for Mines and Commissioner of Ethiopian Investment Commission besides visiting Ethiopian industrial parks.

Giving an overview of the visit, Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said that the visit of the Pakistani delegation would start a new chapter of bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and Ethiopia and boost business and investment relations between the two countries. He said that Africa was a huge market of over 1.4 billion people and Pakistan had huge potential to promote trade and exports with Africa through Ethiopia. He said that Pakistan had made a Look Africa Policy, which had not as yet achieved its desired goals. He said that the visit of Pakistan’s business delegation to Ethiopia would make positive progress towards the objectives of Look Africa Policy.

He said that Pakistan’s two close friends Turkiye and China had made good investments in Ethiopia and Africa, which provides Pakistani investors better confidence to explore Ethiopia for business and investment opportunities. He said that the Ethiopian airline, which is covering around 130 destinations of the world, is going to start direct flights with Pakistan in April which would further strengthen business relations between the two countries.

Ahsan Bakhtawari said that the delegation was very satisfied with their visit to Ethiopia and many of them had shown interest to invest in industrial parks, textiles, pharma & chemical production plants in Ethiopia. He lauded the Ethiopian Ambassador Jemal Bakr Abdula for mobilizing the business community of Pakistan for this visit. He also appreciated Pakistan’s Ambassador to Ethiopia Shozab Abbas for his full cooperation and support to the delegation in Ethiopia. He hoped that the historic visit of the Pakistani delegation would boost Pakistan-Ethiopia bilateral trade and economic relations and bring both country’s events closer.