Islamabad; The Embassy of the State of Palestine in Pakistan arranged a virtual meeting on March 3 with the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI). The meeting was hosted by His Excellency Ambassador Ahmed Rabei.
From the Palestinian side, Aya Arafat, advisor to the Palestinian ambassador, attended the meeting. Mr. Buraq Jumaa, Ministry of Health. Izz al-Din Abu Arqoub, Ministry of Agriculture, d. And Mr. Essam Abu Zeid, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nablus, Palestine. Haitham Ikhlef, CEO and Founder, United Exhibitions and Conferences.
On the Pakistani side, the participants were: Mr. Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Mr. Nasser Qureshi and Fadl Hanan members of ICCI. Mr. Karim Aziz Malik, former First Vice President of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Ambassador Ahmed Rabei welcomed the participants, praising the close relationship between the two countries. He expressed his hope that this relationship would deepen through the establishment of a trade and investment partnership between the two brotherly countries, and expressed his interest in promoting the relationship to the next level.
The two sides discussed business opportunities to strengthen business partnerships.
The delegation of the Ministry of Health highlighted the urgent need for pharmaceutical manufacturing in Palestine, where most of these supplies are either out of reach of the majority of the public or are not available.
The Palestinian delegation emphasized the urgent need to address the shortage of some medicines, such as kidney failure, diabetes and cancer.
The two sides also discussed opportunities for expanding trade in agriculture, specifically basmati rice, to strengthen economic relations, including the import of olive oil, soap, dates, sweets, aluminum and chemical products from Palestine.
Pakistan has many commodities for export to Palestine such as leather goods, textiles and sporting goods.
The participants agreed to continue the dialogue in order to stimulate stronger trade relations for the bilateral relations on trade and investment across multiple sectors.
Ambassador Ahmed affirmed his commitment to support the Palestinian business community, the Middle East and Pakistan in promoting trade and joint investments.
He also thanked Pakistan for providing training and other support to Palestine in various fields and said that Palestine wanted to enhance its economic relations with Pakistan.
Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, stressed that Govs of Pakistan and Palestine should cooperate with private sectors for promoting trade and investment.
ICCI members Nasir Qureshi and Fazal-e-Hanan briefed the Palestinian side about the state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities of Pakistani pharmaceuticals companies that were exporting their quality products around the world. Karim Aziz Malik former Senior Vice President ICCI apprized the Palestinian side about the high quality Basmati rice of Pakistan that was being exported to around 28 countries including Japan.
Khalid Mosleh of the Federation of Palestine Chambers of Commerce and Industry stressed that all possible channels of trade should be explored to enhance bilateral trade between Palestine and Pakistan. He said that both countries should focus on exchange of trade delegations and participation in each other’s exhibition for promotion of bilateral trade and investment. He said that Palestine has the potential to export many products to Pakistan including olive oil, dates, soaps, sweets, marble stones, aluminum and chemical products.
Engineer Barraq Jumma Director Projects Ministry of Health of Palestine and Dr. Ezz El Din Abu Aqrqoub Director General International Cooperation Ministry of Agriculture of Palestine showed interest to enhance cooperation with Pakistan in agriculture and health sectors.
They said that Palestine was interested in importing high quality pharmaceutical products of various diseases and Basmati rice from Pakistan.
They said that Pakistani investors should explore JVs and investment opportunities in Palestine. They said that a delegation of Arab entrepreneurs including Palestine was planning to go to Pakistan after Covid-19 pandemic for exploration of business prospects with Pakistani counterparts.
Both sides also discussed many other areas to strengthen trade and economic relations between Pakistan and Palestine.
Islamabad; The Embassy of the State of Palestine in Pakistan arranged a virtual meeting on March 3 with the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI). The meeting was hosted by His Excellency Ambassador Ahmed Rabei.
