KARACHI – Despite the expected meagre participation of foreign buyers/importers, more interested to attend international fairs in India, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) has convinced the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) to organise the Expo Pakistan 2011.
The ministry had earlier termed the Expo as “an exercise in futility”. TDAP has restarted preparation of the international event, involving millions of rupees. The ministry, which had rejected the event, calling it ‘no more than loss of money’, was interestingly convinced by the authority’s chief.
The international event, being organised for the past five years, costing billions of rupees, was not proving fruitful for the country’s exports. This is primarily because majority of the foreign participants being sent by the country’s commercial counsellors were their friends and not the actual buyers/importers, sources alleged. Sources lamented that after the event, its success is never assessed. Questions regarding the opened LCs after importer orders during the Expo are not raised, while only orders with valued amount are publicised by both the ministry and TDAP. The event needs a heavy budget, as Pakistan has to bear the cost of returns tickets, accommodation and other services for the foreign participants.
Sources claimed that majority of the invited foreigners are no more than visitors, who return back without any order. This had impelled the secretary commerce to call Expo as a non-beneficial exercise and he directed TDAP to halt preparations of the sixth Expo Pakistan. However, sources claimed that intervention of the high ups in Islamabad had triggered a decision reversal and the event would now be held as per the schedule earlier announced by TDAP.
