UNIDO ITPO Tokyo jointly with JICA, Board of Investment (BOI) of Pakistan and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) organized a webinar titled “Virtual Visit to Pakistan” on 13 January 2021.
After the Opening Remarks by H.E. Imtiaz Ahmad, Ambassador of Pakistan in Japan and the video introduction of tourism sector of Pakistan, the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) introduced the trade relations between Pakistan and Japan. Mr. Athar Hussain Khokhar, Director General, International Marketing Division mentioned in the video message that Japan is the 4th largest trade partner for Pakistan with the bilateral trade amounted to US$1.5 billion last year. Major export items to Japan included cotton, textile, surgical goods, fish, surgical instruments, sports goods and leather goods, while imports from Japan were vehicles, machinery, iron and steel, ships, boats and electrical machinery.
Mr. Hideo Horiguchi, JICA Advisor to TDAP presented the vide of the city of Karachi, and introduced several items with high potentials for export to Japan such as rice, mangoes, fish and seafoods, textiles, leather goods, and sports goods.
Mr. Asim Ayub, Project Director, Project Management Unit o the Board of Investment (BOI), in the presentation on special economic zones (SEZs) of Pakistan, mentioned that 21 SEZs have been approved since 2012 in the country, where zone enterprises enjoy custom duty exemption on import of capital goods as well as income tax exemption for 10 years from the commencement of commercial operation. Mr. Ayub encouraged Japanese businesses to develop SEZs in Pakistan as zone development is open to the private sector as well. Following the video message by Ms. Fareena Mazhar, the Secretary of BOI, the audience were guided to a virtual tour to 2 SEZs, namely M3 Industrial City in Faisalabad, Punjab and National Science & Technology Park in Islamabad, while the comments by the representatives of 3 zone enterprises were also shared.
Eight (8) Pakistani companies interested in business partnerships with Japanese companies joined the webinar and introduced individually each company’s business activities as well as expectations towards Japanese businesses. BOI introduced the online business matching site which will be launched shortly. A short Q& A session was organized before closing the webinar.
*You can view the presentation slides and videos by clicking the underlined letters (in blue) in the programme below.
Seminar Outline:
Date/Time: 13 January 2021 (Wed) / 14:00-15:30 (JST), 10:00-11:30 (PKT)
Format: Online seminar * Live stream on zoom
Organizers: JICA, UNIDO ITPO Tokyo, Board of Investment (BOI) of Pakistan,
Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP)
Co-organizers: Embassy of Pakistan in Japan, JETRO Karachi Office
Supporters: Japan-Pakistan Business Cooperation Committee
Cooperation: Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Language: English-Japanese with simultaneous interpretation
Programme
14:00-14:05 Opening Remarks
HE Mr. Imtiaz Ahmad, Ambassador of Pakistan
Embassy of Islamic Republic of Pakistan
14:05-14:10 Video Introduction of Tourism Sector video
14:10-14:30 Virtual Tour of Karachi, the largest commercial city in Pakistan
Video Message by Mr. Athar Hussain Khokhar, Director General for International Marketing Division, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP)
Virtual visit to Karachi guided by Mr. Hideo Horiguchi, JICA Advisor to TDAP
14:30-14:50 Virtual Tour to Special Economic Zones (SEZs) of Pakistan by BOI
–Overview of SEZs by Mr. Asim Ayub, Project Director, Project Management Unit
-Video Message by Ms. Fareena Mazhar, the Secretary, BOI
-Visits to M-3 Industrial City (Faisalabad, Punjab) video and
National Science and Technology Park (Islamabad) video
14:50-15:15 Introduction of Pakistani companies (3 minutes each)
① Sapphire Finishing Mills Limited (Textile) http://www.sapphire.com.pk/home.htm/
Mr. Tahir Khan, Business Unit Head
② Super Star Enterprises (Fishery) http://superstarseagold.com/
Mr. Asif Ali, General Manager
③ Mehran Spice & Food Industries (Foods/Rice) http://www.mehrangroup.com/
Mr. Sajjad Qaiser, General Manager & Sales
④ Crescent Bahuman (Textile/Denim) video https://www.crescentbahuman.com/
Mr. Rizwan Shafi, Managing Director
⑤ FF Steel(Manufacturing) video: Portfolio / video: Chairman‘s Message
https://www.ff.com.pk/
Mr. Zarak Khan Khattak, CEO
⑥ Technology Innovators (IT) video www.technologyinnovators.co/
Mr. Asif Rumi, Founder/CEO
⑦ Self Tech (IT/Smart logistics) Faisal Riaz, Technical Director
⑧ Sun Consulting (Recruitment) Mr. Syed Iqbaluddin Ghazi, President
14:15-14:20 Opening of BOI BtoB site (PD PMU, BOI)
15:20-15:30 Q&A
15:30 Closing
