ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Kenya are all set to hold discussions on trade and cooperation for which the Kenya’s agriculture minister has reached Pakistan.
Speaking with Profit, sources said that the Kenyan agriculture minister will visit the Ministry of Commerce on Monday wherein the two sides will discuss tea export and rice import.
According to the details, bilateral trade between both countries was recorded $782 million last year which included $282 million in exports to Kenya. Pakistan is currently exporting rice, pharmaceuticals and textiles to the African country whereas it imports tea and leather from Nairobi.
Sources said that Pakistani authorities will propose a barter trade system due to the ongoing economic crisis. They said Islamabad plans to export rice and pharmaceuticals in return for tea from Nairobi.
According to the country’s tea association, Pakistan has imported almost 234 million kg of tea from Kenya in the last year while the importers have also paid Rs65 billion in revenue to the government.
It is pertinent to note that Pakistan’s exports to Kenya increased 31% during the last three years owing to interaction between the both countries’ business delegations besides the Look Africa policy launched by Islamabad. “Pharmaceutical export to Kenya reached $15 million from $2 million,” sources added.
Earlier, the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) has also arranged an exhibition which was attended by around 175 people from 54 countries including Kenya.
It may be mentioned that tea prices have surged to Rs1,600 per Kg from Rs1,100 per Kg due to non-opening of tea industry’ letter of credit (LC). Chairman Tea Association Zeeshan Paracha has said that prices can further go up if consignments stuck at the port are not released.
The association has also written a letter to the SBP governor, calling for a meeting to address issues regarding bank documents. He said PTA associations are facing problems in the clearance of documents due to dollar shortage in banks which means that containers full of tea leaves cannot be released. Warning of a tea shortage in the country, he said he would once again write the central bank head a letter requesting resolution of the problem.
