KARACHI, Oct 4: Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim said here on Thursday that global economic conditions are also having their adverse impact on country’s trade and industry.

Speaking to media after inaugurating the seventh Expo Pakistan-2012, the |minister said such events give an opportunity to foreign buyers to have a direct contact with manufacturers and sellers and also help in building country’s soft image.

The Expo Pakistan, he said, had become an annual event and provides an opportunity to our trade and industry to introduce products to visiting foreign buyers and help increase trade volume in the world market.

Responding to a question, the minister said that undoubtedly there were gas and power shortages in the country and the industry was not working full time, yet Pakistani textiles are getting maximum foreign exchange earning.

The minister said that during his visit to the five exhibition halls, he witnessed good participation from all over the country as most of the stalls were occupied with some displaying Chinese and Japanese products.

“It should be remembered that not only internal but external factors do also affect our trade, but government departments concerned are closely monitoring the situation,” he maintained.

Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) chief executive Tahir Raza Naqvi said that almost 300 stalls were booked by local firms while some of the stalls were also given to Chinese and Japanese companies.

He further said that the TDAP expects that around $1 billion worth of export orders would be received by the country’s exporters during the four-day exhibition.

He said that the authority, beside the textile sector which is the backbone of country’s exports, was also focusing on non-textile sectors and their value-addition.

Amid tight security around the Expo Centre, foreign dignitaries, from over 70 countries visited various stalls, including textile products, handicraft, construction, agriculture and other sectors.