High Commissioner South Africa Lays Stress On Mutual Trade Ties

Commissioner of South Africa in Pakistan Mpendulo Jele stressed the need for making sincere efforts in boosting mutual trade ties between Pakistan and South Africa.

SIALKOT, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Sep, 2018 ) :High Commissioner of South Africa in Pakistan Mpendulo Jele stressed the need for making sincere efforts in boosting mutual trade ties between Pakistan and South Africa.

Addressing a meeting of the Sialkot exporters held at Pakistan Sports Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PSGMEA) here on Wednesday, he said the time was high to boost mutual trade ties between Pakistan and South Africa, saying that South Africa was much keen to develop its strong trade relations with Pakistan.

The South African HC also pledged to promote close mutual cooperation to establish the SMEs sector in Sialkot-Pakistan as well.

He said the time was also ripe for boosting the Business-to-Business contacts between the businessmen of both sides in South Africa and Pakistan, saying that the SMEs could play a pivotal role in establishing the economic backbone of any country.

Mr. Mpendulo Jele said that there was a lot of potential for enhanced mutual trade cooperation between Pakistan and South Africa, especially in the areas of livestock, surgical/hospital equipments, food processing, pharmaceutical industry apart from textile and sporting goods industry.

He also announced to ensure the regular exchange of the mutual trade delegations.

South African High Commissioner also assured the easy access of Sialkot-made sports goods to international trade markets of South African and other African countries through South Africa as well.

Speaking on the occasion, Chairman PSGMEA Husnain Iftikhar Cheema said that small and medium enterprises played the role of economic backbone in any country. In Pakistan, SME industry caters to approx. 73% of the industrial employment which ensures low poverty rate amongst small towns and rural population therefore plays a key role in stabilizing the economy. "We, therefore would like emphasize on more close contact between SME sectors of South Africa and Sialkot to help explore further avenues not only in terms of export but also import between both countries," he said.

"I would like to acknowledge the most cordial and friendly relations that Pakistan and the Government of South Africa have shared during the last 24 years. The economic and fincial development cooperation between Pakistan and South Africa goes way back but our trade investment between both the countries is really low and there is still a lot of potential for enhanced trade cooperation between both countries is areas like Livestock, Surgical/hospital equipment,food processing, pharmaceutical industry apart from textile and sporting goods industry," he added.

Earlier, High Commissioner of South Africa in Pakistan Mr. Mpendulo Jele visited several leading industrial units in Sialkot.

He witnessed several processes of manufacturing and production of sports goods and surgical instruments there.

He highly hailed the craftsmanship of Sialkot based artisans.