PESHAWAR: Nigerian High Commissioner in Pakistan, Mr Mohammad Bello Abiyo said prospects are very high to further improve bilateral economic and trade cooperation between Nigeria and Pakistan, however, he underscored the need of removing bottlenecks in enhancing present bilateral trade volume between the countries.
Mr Abiyo was addressing members of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry during a meeting, chaired by the chamber’s senior vice president Shahid Hussain here at SCCI’s house on Friday.
Ejaz Khan Afridi, vice president of the chamber, former senior vice president Imran Khan, former vice president Abdul Jalil Jan, executive members Lala Badshah, Munawar Khurshid, Kashif Amin, Javed Ahmad Khan, and Ihsanullah, Shams Rahim, Rashid Iqbal Siddique, Naeem Qasmi, Zahoor Khan, Aftab Iqbal, Waris Khan Afridi, Faiz Rasool, Waqar Ahmad, Ayub Sethi, Ishtiaq Muhammad along with traders, industrialists, importers and expoerters were present in a large number.
The Nigerian High Commissioner who was accompanied by Chairman of the SCCI Standing Committee on Education, Saboor Sethi visited the chamber house during his address to members of the business community said Nigeria and Pakistan have cordially enjoyed political and diplomatic relationship.
However, he said trade and economic volume between Nigeria and Pakistan is very low, which should be improved by taking full advantage of available opportunities and bringing these relations to a new peak by establishment of business to business contacts, launching of joint ventures, utilizing all resources, potentials and each other’s experiences at optimal level.
Mr Abiyo emphasized the need to remove hurdles, especially problems that have been faced by the business community of the both countries on priority basis. He added that the issue of price non-competitiveness should be resolved as soon as possible.
The Nigerian HC assured the SCCI members that there will be no problem to them in visa issuance and invited them to make investments in potential sectors in Nigeria. He stressed the impediments in the way of mutual trade needed to be addressed by a joint mechanism.
Shahid Hussain, while earlier addressing the meeting, called for further strengthening bilateral trade relations between Pakistan and Nigeria.
He invited the Nigerian investors to make investment in potential sectors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa like Gas, Oil, Marble, mine, match, precious and semi-precious stones and other as huge opportunities are available for investment in the province, which should be exploited efficiently to boost up bilateral trade between the two countries.
SCCI senior office bearer said KP is gate-way to Central Asian Republic (CARs) from where, Nigeria manufacturing products would easily export the central Asian countries via Afghanistan, therefore, he asked, Nigerian investors to initiate joint ventures and take full advantages from this gold opportunity and get easy access to Central Asian Republics market.
