ISLAMABAD: In the wake of strained relations between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Doha’s high-powered trade delegation has visited Pakistan last week for exploring opportunities for importing meat including beef and mutton, chicken, rice and dairy products worth over a billion dollar.
Qatar is a rich country having potential to import over a billion dollar food items from Pakistan. “In the upcoming Special Economic Zones (SEZs) which will be established with the help of China, proposals are under consideration to establish modernised farm houses with the purpose to boost exports of live animals as well as of both beef and mutton manifold in years ahead,” said the official sources.
Earlier, Qatar used to import major chunk of food items from Saudi Arabia but after strained relationship with Gulf States now Qatar is exploring new markets to import food items and Pakistan can become potential player in this regard in weeks and months ahead.
The top import origins are China ($3.51B), France ($3.23B), the United Kingdom ($3.08B), the United States ($2.96B) and the United Arab Emirates ($2.76B). Qatar borders Saudi Arabia by land and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Iran by sea. In 2015, Qatar imported $34.7 billion worth of products making it the 58th largest importer in the world. During the last five years, the imports of Qatar have increased at rate of 8.5 percent increased from $22.8 billion in 2010 to $37.7 billion in 2015.
President Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) Zubair Tufail on Monday confirmed to this paper that Qatar’s trade delegation paid visit to Pakistan last week for exploring trade opportunities and they were interested in importing food items.
“We have helped them to establish contacts with major business houses involved in food items’ export from Pakistan and it is expected that exporters could get their potential shares in months and years ahead,” he concluded.
Source: The News International, published on: 18th July 2017
Qatar Chamber (QC) officials held meetings in Islamabad with the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry to enhance trade relations between both countries. The meetings held from 11 to 14 July focused on boosting cooperation between both countries in the sectors including construction, building materials, foodstuffs, textiles and furniture.
The delegation included the board member Rashid bin Hamad al-Athba and its director general Saleh bin Hamad al-Sharqi with Pakistan’s minister of Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan.
Qatar Chamber has sought with Islamabad Chamber to increase Qatar’s imports from Pakistan, especially food items and building materials, informed al-Sharqi. He pointed out that there is a large trade exchange between Qatar and Pakistan with trade volume reaching QR2.8 billion last year, while it was QR1.9 billion in 2014 and QR887 million in 2015. Qatar’s exports to Pakistan in 2016 touched QR2.5 billion, whereas Pakistan’s imports to Qatar were only QR317.7 million.
Both sides also discussed establishing joint factories in Qatar which would help provide all commodities to the local market and exporting abroad the surplus. They reviewed partnership opportunities and mechanisms of exchanging expertise between Qatari and Pakistani companies.
The Chamber has invited Pakistani counterparts to visit Qatar in order to explore investment opportunities and fields that both sides could cooperate in. A large business delegation is expected to visit Qatar soon.