March 25, 2006	Saturday	Safar 24, 1427

KARACHI, March 24: A warehousing scheme has been launched in Nairobi, Kenya, for promotion of Pakistan’s exports to African states. Vice President of the Republic of Kenya Moody Awori officially performed the launching of the scheme on Tuesday last.

Minister of State and Chairman Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) Tariq Ikram and Pakistan’s roving Ambassador for Sub-Saharan Africa, Hameed Asghar Kidwai, were also present on the occasion.

According to a message received by the Export Promotion Bureau, ambassador Kidwai highlighted the cordial trade and commercial relations that existed between Pakistan and Kenya.

Emphasizing the status of Pakistan as a strategic trading partner of Kenya, he said that Pakistan, the largest importer of tea, was importing two-third of its total tea requirements from Kenya that comes to one-third of Kenya’s total tea exports. Similarly, Kenya imported most of its requirements of rice from Pakistan.

Tariq Ikram, welcoming the Kenyan vice president, said that the warehousing scheme was an important component of Pakistan’s export strategy with the principal objective of geographic diversification in exports.

He said that warehousing arrangements had been made in Nairobi and the port town of Mombassa, and the Kenyan buyers would be able to take immediate deliveries at the warehouse, with considerable savings on cost of opening letters of credit and on keeping large inventories.

Kenyan vice president Moody Awori speaking on the occasion said that the Founder of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah helped Kenya in its struggle for independence.

He underscored the importance of Pakistan as a trading partner and stressed that Pakistan was the only country in the world with which Kenya had surplus balance of trade.

He welcomed the Pakistani warehousing scheme started from Kenya as the first pilot-project.

Moody Awori hoped that the scheme would help expand trade between the two countries, particularly in the textile sector and said that Kenya could learn a lot from Pakistan in promoting cotton production and textile manufacturing in his country.