Talking to Dawn on telephone Shabbir Ahmad, a leading manufacturer and exporter of bedsheets who has set up a joint venture in Pakistan with French collaboration, quoted his Paris based partner as saying that French Defence Minister is rushing to Pakistan to get a first hand information about the incident.
All those Frenchmen who fell victims of Wednesday bomb blast were associated in a submarine project in Pakistan that is considered to be the most vital in terms of defence strategy as well as transfer of technology.
Shabbir said that one of his German customer who was in the city had left immediately for home after the incident.
How long will it take to recover from this shock and see the economy revive is something that no businessman is ready to predict. The fresh wave of terrorist act against foreign nationals has again dampened the spirit of the businessmen who now fear that the economy would now be pushed into much longer lull and recession.
“It is a big blow,” remarked Haroon Rashid, vice-president of the Federation of Pakistan of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI). “Investors were already reluctant to come to Pakistan. But now even the small numbers of buyers of our goods will also stop coming,” he said.
Pakistan Leather Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PLGMEA) chairman Fawad Ijaz Khan, while condemning the gory act of terrorism targeting innocent foreign nationals, said this ghastly act had caused serious concern among the foreign buyers intending to visit Pakistan. “I have already received a call from my French buyer informing me about cancelling his scheduled visit on Friday to Pakistan,” he lamented.
Fawad said the European Union on the whole and France in particular were very important trade partner of Pakistan. After September 11 incident, country’s trade and economy suffered great setback but lately it started to recover. But this deplorable act, he said, had once again cast gloomy shadows over future of the country’s trade and exports.
Towel Manufacturers’ Association Pakistan vice-chairman S.M.A. Rizvi said foreign buyers were reluctant to visit Pakistan and were asking exporters to meet them in their country or third place such as Hong Kong, Singapore or Dubai.
The Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association chairman Shahzad Azam Khan aid the incident had damaged the image of the country and as a result the economy would suffer drastically.