Summary Mr Kumalo says Pakistan and South Africa have tremendous scope to improve economic relations.
ISLAMABAD (Online) - Being a rich country in mineral resources, South Africa has the expertise and modern technology to extract coal and it can help Pakistan in using its huge coal reserves for overcoming the ongoing energy crisis.
These remarks were made by H.E. Kumalo Mpendulo, High Commissioner of South Africa while addressing the business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
He said South Africa and Pakistan share a history dating back many years when Pakistan was supporting the liberation struggle against the evil system of apartheid and thanked the Pakistani people for their support, which led to freedom for all South Africans in 1994.
Mr. Kumalo said Pakistan and South Africa have tremendous scope to improve trade and economic relations as the bilateral trade of US$ 510 million is quite insufficient. He said South Africa is rich in mineral and other natural resources and wishes to encourage Pakistani investors to set up manufacturing plants in South Africa. We offer many attractive incentives to investors and more importantly South Africa is regarded as a gateway into Africa.
He said South Africa also offers excellent transport facilities including ports and international airports for the exports of goods. African continent is the second fastest growing region after Asia and Pakistani businessmen could achieve lucrative results by improving trade cooperation with South Africa.
He said economic diplomacy has become the buzz word in modern diplomacy and this is an area that he wishes to concentrate on during his term in Pakistan. He said Chambers of Commerce & Industry in Pakistan has a vital role for improving trade and invited ICCI delegation to visit South Africa to explore new avenues of mutual cooperation.
In his welcome remarks, Zafar Bakhtawari, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that good friendly relations between South Africa and Pakistan should be translated into thriving trade and economic relations as bilateral trade is confined to few items and needs to be diversified to take it beyond US$ 1 billion by 2015.
He said coal is an attractive area for cooperation and South Africa should share its expertise & technology with Pakistan for exploiting its coal reserves to produce cheap energy.
