ISLAMABAD: (Yaseen Hashmi) Pakistan and Rwanda have made significant progress towards establishing direct maritime connectivity in a bid to strengthen trade ties and access East African markets, officials said.
The development came about in a meeting held between Rwanda’s High Commissioner Harerimana Fatou and Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Junaid Anwar Chaudhry. Discussions were centred on proposals to launch new shipping lines from Karachi to Djibouti and Mombasa.
Junaid Anwar Chaudhry said Pakistan is targeting direct access to the consumer market of East Africa’s nearly 500 million people. He added that the proposed maritime corridors will cut the cost of trade by as much as 30 percent and will also cut the transit time by a lot, especially on the Karachi-Djibouti route.
The minister added that Gwadar Port is being developed as a future export hub for Africa which would further improve Pakistan’s regional trade footprint. Improved maritime connectivity, he said, would make Pakistani exports – particularly textiles and pharmaceuticals – more competitive in world markets.
High Commissioner Fatou welcomed the initiative, saying direct sea links would facilitate bilateral trade and ease Rwandan exports such as tea, coffee and avocados to Pakistan. She also said she was interested in promoting wider maritime cooperation between the two countries.
Officials from both sides agreed to continue technical consultations to move the proposals forward.
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