KARACHI – Ismail Suttar, President of the Apex Body of Manufacturers, The Employers Federation of Pakistan (EFP), has said that, a strategic partner of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC) and old partner of CEO Club, has taken the arduous task of creating new trade channels and markets for non-traditional exports of Pakistan, amid COVID situation
In a Statement, he said that EFP is working assiduously to build a platform where leading industrialists and aspiring entrepreneurs from 54 countries of the CW Bloc can trade and collaborate to create jobs and alleviate poverty.
“Pakistan will lose 30 percent share of world exports. So, with the global trade vacuum in the region and escalated demand for non-traditional goods like fruits, vegetables, fish, food supplements, medicaments, etc. that are easily available in Pakistan must be pushed wherever there is demand”, he predicted.
EFP president stated that there is heightened importance to upgrade skills of workers to make them technologically efficient and this can be done through capacity building initiatives. One such is the Commonwealth Academy that the EFP is planning with Mr. Mobin Rafiq and other top industrialists and renowned academicians. The academy will offer useful training and courses that are of prime concern to the economy such as manufacturing, healthcare systems, Information Technology (IT), communications, agro-processing, tourism and hospitality and more.
Ismail Suttar said that the ‘Look Africa’ initiative by the incumbent Government of Pakistan brings a great opportunity for creating brand awareness of Pakistani products in Africa and for this purpose, the EFP has assigned a skilled team of researchers to identify exportable non-traditional products. There is abundant scope for export of spices, industrial clothing, sanitizers, garments, food supplements, surgical instruments, small machineries, fish”, he added.
He said this EFP-CW platform will also try to re-route investors and sunset companies migrating from neighbors and regional countries to settle in Pakistani special economic zones and take full benefit of the sea, natural resources and agriculture-favoring climatic conditions.
The newly elected President Ismail Suttar-led EFP, through Pakistani High Commissioner in UK, Nafees Zakaria is hunting for new retailers to push fruits and non-traditional commodities.
