Efforts on to expand Ethiopian Airlines’ operations to Karachi on daily basis – Envoy

Addis Ababa, May 10, 2024 (FBC) – Jemal Beker, the Ambassador of Ethiopia to Pakistan, disclosed that there is a plan to initiate Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services freighter services to Pakistan. The Ethiopian envoy revealed that efforts are also being made to further expand flight operations of Ethiopian Airlines to a daily basis from Karachi.

He referred to the successful operations of Ethiopian Airlines, which has been flying four times a week from Karachi.

According to Jemal, this expansion would certainly be instrumental towards Pakistan’s Look & Engage Africa Policy by connecting Pakistan with over 70 destinations in Africa, thereby strengthening the enhanced people-to-people and business-to-business linkages between the two countries.

“With commencement of Ethiopian Airlines operations in Karachi along with an agreement with KCCI, the connectivity issues as well as the missing link between institutions of both countries have been successfully addressed during the last one-and-a-half-year. We are also working to bring Ethiopia’s cargo services to Pakistan which would help in taking a lot of goods and services from Pakistan to the rest of the world,” he added while speaking at a meeting during his visit to Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI).

Honorary Consul General of Ethiopia in Karachi Ibrahim Tawwab, Chairman Businessmen Group (BMG) Zubair Motiwala, President KCCI Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh, Senior Vice President Altaf A Ghaffar, Vice President Tanveer Ahmed Barry, Chairman Diplomatic Missions & Embassies Liaison Subcommittee Farooq Afzal and KCCI Managing Committee Members also attended the meeting.

Ethiopian Envoy, while extending full support and cooperation to KCCI on behalf of Ethiopian Government, said that Karachi Chamber with a strong membership base of 50,000 contributes very well to Pakistan’s economy and was undoubtedly the backbone of this country.

He said that various chambers of commerce in Pakistan have been identified including KCCI as they have the potential to bring both nations closer to each other due to geographical factor and their size. In this regard, agreements have been signed with KCCI and other sectoral associations to work together, protect business communities, exchange ideas and advance a mutual cooperation on opportunities available in both countries, he said, adding that Ethiopia was deeply interested in strengthening economic cooperation with Pakistan which will prove favourable for both countries having comparative advantage.

He informed that Ethiopia is one of the peaceful countries with least criminal rate whose economy is one of the fastest growing economies in the world with a strong GDP growth of 7.5 percent per year. “Within three years, we have doubled our GDP. This is something very amazing for all of you. We have also become the third largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa. We’re trying to stabilize micro-level economic stabilization and also introduced structural reforms, besides addressing the energy issue and identifying potential sectors.”