ISLAMABAD: Tarek Mohamed Hussein Dahroug, ambassador of Egypt to Pakistan, said on Tuesday he would go the “extra mile” to promote trade relations between Egypt and Pakistan and help the two nations tap their potential to export high quality products at competitive prices.
Dahroug was speaking during a visit to the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, accompanied by Ibrahim Said Abdelrahim Ibrahim, deputy head of mission.
“The Egyptian envoy said that he was quite ambitious and ready to go extra mile in order to promote trade relations between Egypt and Pakistan as it would bring more beneficial results for the economies of both countries,” a statement from the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce said. “He said by enhancing trade cooperation with Egypt, Pakistan could get easy access to many the markets of African countries including Libya, Morocco, Sudan and Algeria.”
The envoy said Pakistan and Egypt needed to focus on promoting direct exports, which would be more price competitive: “An MoU was signed long time ago for Pak-Egypt Business Council, but no progress was made and [the ambassador] urged that both countries should make target oriented efforts to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.”
Speaking at the occasion, Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, president of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce, said Pakistan-Egypt bilateral trade stood at around $154 million in 2017, urging both sides to work to develop strong linkages between their private sectors to explore untapped areas of trade cooperation.
Waheed said Pakistan could export many products to Egypt including rice, marble, engineering goods, agro-processed products, surgical instruments, pharmaceuticals and sports goods, adding that the two nations had the potential to cooperate in many areas including agricultural products, engineering goods like electrical apparatuses and power appliances, construction and building material, tourism, shipping, fertilizers, chemicals, textiles products, leather goods, medical and surgical items and pharmaceuticals.
“He said that many Pakistani products were entering the Egyptian market through third country labels and urged that Pakistan Government should cooperate with its private sector in promoting Made in Pakistan brands in Egypt to realize better results,” the Chamber statement said. “He further said that Pakistan and Egypt should consider signing a free trade agreement that would remove hurdles and boost trade between the two countries.”
