12 November 2004	Friday	28 Ramazan 1425

KARACHI, Nov 11: Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan said on Thursday that massive roadshows will be held to attract a large number of top bosses of leading foreign buying houses and opinion leaders to Expo Pakistan 2005.

He was chairing the second meeting of steering committee at a hotel here. Chairman EPB Tariq Ikram, Governor State Bank of Pakistan Dr Ishrat Husain, City Nazim Naimatullah Khan, Chief Secretary Sindh Aslam Sanjrani, chairman of sub-committee on entertainment Hameed Haroon and representatives of rangers, police, BoI and event managers were also present on the occasion.

Humayun Akhtar said he will pursue top bosses of international retail chains and leading foreign buyers during a six-nation tour along with the President of Pakistan to visit this mega exhibition in Feb. 2005 in Pakistan.

Similarly, Secretary Commerce will also take a visit to Europe and invite leading buyers and top bosses of retail chains to visit this mega

event.

He said the Chairman EPB will also undertake a hectic tour of 11 countries including the US, China, Japan and European countries to invite leading buyers, heads of chambers and trade bodies.

The meeting was informed that Commerce Minister will approach Foreign Minister and Foreign Secretary to activate Pakistan missions and trade offices abroad to launch an aggressive campaign for Expo Pakistan 2005 and pursue leading buyers and opinion makers to visit this mega event.

Humayun said all the finance related matters will be resolved at the next meeting of Export Marketing Development Fund to ensure faster execution of remaining work in the organization of this mega event.

He said the government will bear the expenses of 150 top foreign buyers for Expo Pakistan 2005 while 50 will be the state guests at the show.

The next meeting of the steering committee will be held in the first week of December.-APP