December 12, 2003	Friday	Shawwal 17, 1424

KARACHI, Dec 11: The Turkish textile industry opting Pakistan for relocation has been assured by the government of special freight concessions.

This was disclosed by Pakistan-Turkey Business Council (PTBC) chairman Amjad Rafi at a farewell reception held for Turkish Consul General Fevzi Uslubas here late Wednesday evening.

He said recently there was rapid growth in Pakistan-Turkish economic relations and this was because of pro-active economic diplomacy taken by outgoing Turkish Consul General Fevzi Uslubas.

Mr Rafi said Mr Uslubas’s dynamic diplomacy pushed the bilateral trade between the two countries from $160 million to $240 million.

Similarly, he said there had been a lot of economic activity such as exchange of trade delegation and holding of a number of trade fairs.

Quoting Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan, he said the Turkish textile industry would be getting special freight concessions in the process of relocation to Pakistan.

On the occasion, Honorary Consul General of Ethiopia Jawed Arshad said he had learnt a lot from Mr Uslubas who maintained high profile in economic diplomacy during his stay as diplomat in Karachi.

He said during the fiscal year 2002-03 Pakistan’s documented exports to Ethiopia stood at $2.1 million, while imports from Ethiopia were $4.5 million. The direct bilateral trade, he said, was very nominal but Ethiopians purchased a variety of Pakistani products through third country like Dubai.

He said there was big scope of enhancing bilateral trade between the two countries as there was big demand for Pakistani products in Ethiopia.

Mr Arshad said that at the behest of the Ethiopian government an entrepreneur from Pakistan was motivated to take over a $102 million public sector textile composite unit in July 2002, which was now being run successfully. This has created a great deal of goodwill, providing employment to about 100 Pakistani textile technicians in the process.