July 10, 2003	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 9,1424

KARACHI, July 9: The French ambassador Yannick Gerard said on Wednesday that as a follow up of a recent visit of the President Pervez Musharraf a French economic mission will be visiting Pakistan for which timeframe has yet to be finalized.

Talking to a group of journalists after inaugurating the office of Pakistan France Business Alliance (PFBA), the French envoy said that the mission would be of a ministerial level and expressed the hope that their visit would further strengthen economic ties of the two countries.

Referring to the President Pervez Musharraf’s recent visit to France, he said, the French companies and investors now have better understanding about Pakistan because they had a direct meeting with the President.

Yannick Gerard said as a result of this visit the Union of International French Companies (UCCIFE), which had a representation of most of the countries was now seriously considering to associate Pakistan in its fold.

The French envoy said that the President’s visit helped in building positive image of Pakistan, particularly when he informed the French business community that presently around 500 to 600 multinational companies were working in different areas and making good profits.

He said the address of the President to heads of 300 to 400 French companies, which was organized by Ministry of External Trade and Federation of All French Companies (MEDEF), supported by Prince Karim Aga Khan, produced excellent results.

Yannick said all the notions and apprehensions of the French business community about investment climate were removed by a remarkable and to the point speech of the presidnet.

He also mentioned the signing of an agreement with French company, TOTAL.

Earlier president of PFBA Amin Hashwani briefly highlighted the aims and objectives of the alliance and said it would make sincere efforts to increase trade between the two countries which presently stands very low.

He said the PFBA office would be run by professional business development manager.