By Rehan Khan
ISLAMABAD, May 27 (APP): A productive and fruitful Ethio-Pakistan Business Forum held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Monday in presence of more than 500 businesspersons from diverse economic sectors including agriculture and agro-processing, manufacturing, mining, tourism and Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
Key ministers from the government of Ethiopia including Ambassador Birtukan Ayano, State Minister of Foreign Affairs and Gebremeskel Chala, Minister of Trade and Regional Integration and Aklilu Tadesse Chief Executive Officer of Industrial Parks attended the forum as the guest of honors.
The senior officials from the Ethiopian Investment Commission, Ethiopian Investment Holding and Industrial Parks Development Corporation also attended the forum.
From Pakistani side, Zubari Motiwala, Chairman of the Trade and Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), Dr. Khurram Tariq, President of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Abdul Ghafoor Malik President of the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Malik Azhar Ali President of Sundar Industry and Trade Association, Fazal Jillani, Chief Executive Officer of AirSial and other big businesspersons including investors and industrialists attended the forum.
Addressing the forum, Ambassador Birtukan Ayano, expressed her gratitude for the delegates who became part of the 2nd Business and Trade Delegation from Pakistan.
Lauding the Ethiopian Embassy Islamabad’s performance, she said the Ethio-Pakistan Business Forum would be instrumental in giving the first-hand information to the business community of Pakistan on the business, trade and investment opportunities in Ethiopia.
The minister said prime focus of the foreign policy of Ethiopia was to attract the foreign direct investment, boost its exports through trade and technology transfer from the brotherly countries.
She said Ethiopia and Pakistan enjoyed longstanding relations that had been flourishing with the increased cooperation in economy, health and education.
Gebremeskel Chala, said the Ethiopian government was committed to economic development, making extensive efforts to attract foreign investment in Ethiopia.
He highlighted the homegrown economic agenda 2.0 under which multiple initiatives were taken to facilitate and incentivize the business, trade and investment.
Aklilu Tadesse briefed the forum about 13 state-of-the-art industrial parks with investors friendly policies.
Ambassador of Ethiopia to Pakistan Jemal Beker Abdula said the bilateral relations between the two countries were on upward trajectory as the Ethiopian Embassy Islamabad had organized two big business and trade delegation of Pakistani businesspersons to Ethiopia within one and half year of its establishment.
Ambassador of Pakistan in Ethiopia, Atif Sharif Mian said there was a need to send similar size of business and trade delegation to Pakistan from Ethiopia to further boost the bilateral trade between the two countries.
Zubair Motiwala, underlined the need for establishing cooperation between the banking sectors of both the countries for enhancing the bilateral trade between the two countries.
Following the Business Forum, a panel discussion was held on investment opportunities in diverse economic sectors of Ethiopia and Public Private Partnership opportunities with the Ethiopian Investment Holding for 2nd Business and Trade Delegation from Pakistan.
Business-to-Business meetings also held in the second half of the Ethio-Pakistan Business Forum where businesspersons from economic sectors of both countries discussed potential areas of cooperation and collaboration.
