Qatari entrepreneur stresses bilateral trade

[Dubious]

(MENAFN - Gulf Times) Prominent Qatari businessman and entrepreneur Abdul Rahman Mohammed M. al-Muftah has emphasised trade potential between Qatar and Pakistan, noting the current volume of trade between the two nations remained much below its true potential and could be greatly increased.

The entrepreneur said bilateral trade between Qatar and Pakistan could be enhanced manifolds if the business communities in the two countries had more frequent and established contacts.

Speaking at a press conference organised by Brighto Paints in its Lahore headquarters recently, al-Muftah said although Pakistani exports to Qatar have more than doubled in the last one year alone and trade between the two countries has increased many times in the last few years, a number of areas with great potential for investment remained unexplored.

Al-Muftah-- who's Unique Trading Company has obtained the sole distributorship rights for the Qatar market of Pakistan's Brighto Paints, encouraged private sector companies in the two countries to increase business-to-business contacts to boost bilateral co-operation, promote trade and enhance investment opportunities.

Al-Muftah was on a week-long trip to Pakistan on the invitation of Brighto Paints chairman, Khawaja Ijaz Ahmed Sika, and toured the city of Lahore and the adjoining industrial cities in Pakistani province Punjab, in addition to visiting key tourist attractions in northern areas of Pakistan.

Addressing the media Unique Trading Company General Manager Imran Rafique said Qatar and Pakistan enjoy distinguished economic and trade relations, which are growing fast owing to the close relationship of the leadership and peoples of the two countries.

He said that governments in both countries are keen to assist the private sector companies in realising their potential for mutual cooperation and promotion of bilateral trade and investment opportunities between the two countries.

Brighto Paints, Pakistan's largest paints conglomerate, is also one of Asia's largest paints and related products manufacturing companies. The company has recently entered the Qatar market where its products have had a positive reception.

https://menafn.com/1097950637/Qatari-entrepreneur-stresses-bilateral-trade

 

[Pakhtoon yum]

(MENAFN - Gulf Times) Prominent Qatari businessman and entrepreneur Abdul Rahman Mohammed M. al-Muftah has emphasised trade potential between Qatar and Pakistan, noting the current volume of trade between the two nations remained much below its true potential and could be greatly increased.

The entrepreneur said bilateral trade between Qatar and Pakistan could be enhanced manifolds if the business communities in the two countries had more frequent and established contacts.

Speaking at a press conference organised by Brighto Paints in its Lahore headquarters recently, al-Muftah said although Pakistani exports to Qatar have more than doubled in the last one year alone and trade between the two countries has increased many times in the last few years, a number of areas with great potential for investment remained unexplored.

Al-Muftah-- who's Unique Trading Company has obtained the sole distributorship rights for the Qatar market of Pakistan's Brighto Paints, encouraged private sector companies in the two countries to increase business-to-business contacts to boost bilateral co-operation, promote trade and enhance investment opportunities.

Al-Muftah was on a week-long trip to Pakistan on the invitation of Brighto Paints chairman, Khawaja Ijaz Ahmed Sika, and toured the city of Lahore and the adjoining industrial cities in Pakistani province Punjab, in addition to visiting key tourist attractions in northern areas of Pakistan.

Addressing the media Unique Trading Company General Manager Imran Rafique said Qatar and Pakistan enjoy distinguished economic and trade relations, which are growing fast owing to the close relationship of the leadership and peoples of the two countries.

He said that governments in both countries are keen to assist the private sector companies in realising their potential for mutual cooperation and promotion of bilateral trade and investment opportunities between the two countries.

Brighto Paints, Pakistan's largest paints conglomerate, is also one of Asia's largest paints and related products manufacturing companies. The company has recently entered the Qatar market where its products have had a positive reception.

https://menafn.com/1097950637/Qatari-entrepreneur-stresses-bilateral-trade

We are able to export 10× what we export right now, the thing was that the politicians didn't give one flying fuk. That's the main issue. I'm expecting it to change in like 2 years inshallah.

 

[jupiter2007]

Joint venture with Qatar in many fields that can make money for both countries.

 

[Rusty]

When you go to the grocery stores, its all indian produce. Yet the few times you can find Pakistani produce, its cheaper and way better quality.

Pakistan needs to start exporting so much more food and other products to the gulf.

 

[jupiter2007]

When you go to the grocery stores, its all indian produce. Yet the few times you can find Pakistani produce, its cheaper and way better quality.

Pakistan needs to start exporting so much more food and other products to the gulf.

It ain’t easy when we haven’t focus on things that can really make us money. We’re still doing things like the way we did 50 years ago.
We need to build food processing and packaging plants.

We can focus on exporting....
1) spices & pink salt
2) Raw vegetables and fruits
3) Halal Meat
4) Sea Food
5) Dairy products
6) Furniture
7) decorations
8) clothing and leather goods

 

[denel]

It ain’t easy when we haven’t focus on things that can really make us money. We’re still doing things like the way we did 50 years ago.
We need to build food processing and packaging plants.

We can focus on exporting....
1) spices & pink salt
2) Raw vegetables and fruits
3) Halal Meat
4) Sea Food
5) Dairy products
6) Furniture
7) decorations
8) clothing and leather goods

Processing is a must for value add and adding employment locally.

 

[AsifIjaz]

We are pathetic when it comes to polishing and packaging of our agricultural products. I can not think of a better word than pathetic otherwise would have used that. I will try to put forward my point via 3 examples..
1) POTATOES
Our potatoes taste better but there is no restriction / segregation of size, cut pieces and discolored few potatoes. This makes the rack look bad and people shy away from them hence leading to low rate for Pakistani potatoes which are actually better than the alternative French or Iranian potatoes who in spite of comparatively poor taste receive better price due to better presentation and segregation. max 2.5 QR/kg vs even 5/kg QR for french potatoes.
2) MANGOES / ORANGES
There is no comparison to pakistani mangoes. I ain't biased but alphonso/badami etc from india which is widely available and sought after does not come near what we have to offer. The same goes for Mandarin (oranges) from Pakistan as they taste better than the Australian, Spanish mandarin and probably against navel and valencia oranges from Africa. (I said probably coz you need malta/mosami to compete with them which is not widely available here).
Whether it is carrefour, Lulu, Monoprix, AL Meera or Saudi hypermarket (all of these are hypermarts), all of these sell Pakistani mandarin for a maximum of 2.5 /kg. Appearance wise Pakistani oranges are mostly pathetic. It takes effort to find a good size orange as majority are medium to small size. you have to sift through deformed or pressed oranges to get hold of round oranges. It is common to see squashed mandarins every now and then as well. Comparatively Australian mandarins are of almost similar to slightly smaller size, always look fresh and are appealing. These thus are sold for around 20-22 QR.
3) NARROW MINDED AND LETHARGIC APPROACH
We are slave to our narrow minded approach. period. We do not promote, hire proper or prominent shelves or explore new areas for our products e.g. I like the candy/nan khatai and the newer whistles biscuits. brought a few boxes for official meetings etc. I am sick of bringing them for colleagues now. It is beyond belief how well they taste and how versatile our biscuit industry is. Same way potato chips, nimko, rusks, juices, cotton fabric, over throw, pillows, cotton or mixed table mats, cotton rope, bed sheets, some kitchen stuff like hot pot, knives etc are literally non existent here. I have brought so much for colleagues and friends (egyptians, tunisians, sudanese, germans etc) who are always eager for more.

I can go on and on about the potential of our products but we are restricted and held by non existent quality standards, non existent restrictions to export of bad quality, non existent feed back mechanism via consulates, non existent efforts to explore newer avenues and our non existent efforts to earn more from the same products by better packaging and presentation.
The above is the state of things in Qatar, the highest per capita income country of the world which is within 4 hrs flight from Pakistan and within 2/3 days of ship from Karachi. we can imagine the state elsewhere. We want the country to progress but with the above approach nothing will happen. We need to open our eyes, develop standards, push for better results and then pray for blessing from Allah.