Global Rice News

THE East African Community (EAC) is keen on strengthening trade and cooperation with Pakistan as the bloc seeks strategic partners for trade and investment.

Hosting the High Commissioner of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the United Republic of Tanzania and the EAC, Ambassador Muhammad Saleem, EAC Secretary General Peter Mathuki, noted that the Community was seeking strategic partners for trade and investment as it expands the regional market.

“Pakistan has been proactive in providing solutions to the global market at lower prices in areas such as farm machinery, textiles and apparel, among other sectors. Pakistan therefore has lots of capacities that EAC can benefit from,” explained Dr Mathuki.

According to the EAC boss, the Community needed more collaboration with Pakistan in terms of technology transfer to spur value chains in East Africa.

Dr Mathuki further informed the High Commissioner that EAC Partner States were working on a more coordinated approach to combat Covid-19.

In his rejoinder, Mr Saleem said Pakistan was ready to support EAC’s industrialisation plans in diverse sectors but especially in areas where his country had built capacity using Western technology for several decades, namely: sugar processing, textile manufacture, cement and fertiliser manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals, among other sectors.

“We are ready to provide capacity building in the ICT sector, automotive, pharmaceuticals, biometrics, medical and engineering sciences, fertiliser production, sugar processing, and food processing. We usually build high-tech industrial plants at a much lower cost,” he said.

He added that other areas in which Pakistan could work with East Africa were science and technology, higher education, innovation, health, trade and investment.

The Pakistani envoy called for the establishment of direct flights by Partner States’ airlines to Islamabad, adding that this was one way of increasing trade between Pakistan and East Africa.

He disclosed that one of the immediate openings for East African entrepreneurs in the huge Pakistani market of 220 million people was edible oil seeds whereby the country spends 1bn US dollars in importing oil seeds such as pulses, lentils and coconuts from markets that are much further away than East Africa.

Mr Saleem further urged Dr Mathuki to expedite a proposed visit to Pakistan by a delegation of businesspeople from East Africa, a trip that has been pending for a while due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Relations between Pakistan and Tanzania were established in the 1960’s, when Pakistan expressed its support for Tanzania in getting independence from British rule.

Among Pakistan’s main exports to Tanzania are cement, textiles, rice and sugar, as well as some relatively high technology goods such as machinery and tractors.

Source: https://allafrica.com/stories/202105250374.html