ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Ethiopia to Pakistan Jemal Beker Abdula on Friday called upon the Pakistani businessmen to enhance their presence in the Ethiopian markets for exploring untapped land of Africa.
While addressing the business community during his visit to the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), he said, “Ethiopia has strong economic ties with Turkiye and United Arab Emirates and it wants similar relations with Pakistan.”
He added that many Pakistani products including textiles, pharmaceuticals, and cement had great potential in Ethiopia and the business community of Pakistan could capitalise on that potential for exports.
Abdula termed the visit of the Pakistani business delegation to Ethiopia as Hijra trade, which was successful.
He apprised that after the visit of the Pakistani delegation to Ethiopia, he had received calls from many African countries including Somalia, Djibouti, and Kenya who showed interest in trade with Pakistan.
“Africa is endowed with great natural resources and the close cooperation of Pakistan with Ethiopia would help it get better penetration in the African
region for trade and exports,” the envoy said.
A high-level delegation of Ethiopia is likely to visit Pakistan in the near future which may help further strengthening trade ties between the two countries.
Speaking on the occasion, Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, president of ICCI urged Pakistan and Ethiopia to sign a preferential trade agreement (PTA) that could remove trade barriers and help boost bilateral trade between Pakistan and Ethiopia.
He urged the ambassador to take up the PTA matter with Pakistan authorities and assured that ICCI would extend all possible cooperation in such efforts.
Bakhtawari thanked the ambassador and the Ethiopian authorities for giving warm reception and hospitality to the ICCI delegation during its visit to Addis Ababa from March 5-11.
Faad Waheed, senior vice president of ICCI, said, “Africa is very important for Pakistan and the Pakistani private sector will like to develop strong business linkages with Ethiopian counterparts to get better access to the African market for business and investment.”
