LAHORE - As the government of Pakistan is making concrete deliberations towards building modern rail tracks and refurbishing the existing ones for direct and transit trade with Afghanistan and Iran, the ‘All Pakistan Business Forum’ (APBF) has appreciated this trans-national venture and expressed its intent to utilize the proposed rail-link infrastructure to optimize the trade potential with the friendly neighboring countries.
A South African business delegation recently came to Pakistan with an interest in undertaking this large-scale project. The delegation was led by M/S Grindrod Rail - a Multi-Continent Investment Company, represented by Willem Goosen. The high-level meeting was facilitated by Ashfaq Anwar – a Pakistani businessman from South Africa. The delegation offered its support to Pakistan in terms of funding, rail-infrastructure development, technology transfer, training of human resources and provision of logistics for different projects. Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir chaired a meeting with this delegation.
President of APBF – Ibrahim Quraishi welcomed the plan to build the new rail-road infrastructure to Iran & Afghanistan and stated that; “Despite huge trade potential, the trade between Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan has remained low, due to inadequate trade infrastructure like; poor rail, road and air links. It is heartening to see a robust initiative among these friendly nations. APBF is consistently striving to enhance Pakistan’s portfolio of exports to these two neighboring countries and beyond.”