Spokesman Report
OTTAWA: Nearly 4,000 vendors and visitors thronged a two-day Pakistan Expo held in the Canadian city of Vancouver to showcase Pakistani products to the local buyers and customers and help forge business-to-business collaborations between Pakistan and Canada.
The event was inaugurated by High Commissioner for Pakistan to Canada Zaheer A. Janjua while Consul General of Pakistan to Vancouver Janbaz Khan and a large number of Pakistani Canadian entrepreneurs, vendors, producers, businessmen, tradesmen, ministers and legislators were also present.
The two-day expo was the first of its kind held in Western Canada. It was jointly organised by the Pakistan Western Canada Trade Association (PWCTA) and the Consulate General of Pakistan in Vancouver. A large delegation of Pakistani vendors from various parts of the country also attended the event.
Addressing the opening gala of the event, High Commissioner Zaheer A. Janjua lauded the organisers for visualizing and actualising the Pakistan expo within a short span of time in Canada. He said the participation of a large number of trade delegates and businessmen from Canada and Pakistan and the attendance of thousands of local buyers and visitors was an affirmation of the quality and success of the event.
Zaheer Janjua highlighted the role and contribution of half a million Pakistani diaspora in Canada in further strengthening the cordial, friendly and enduring relationship between Pakistan and Canada. “Our diaspora is spread across the length and breadth of Canada, and it is playing an important role in the development of both Canada and Pakistan and bringing the two countries closer,” he added.
He hoped the Pakistan Expo Vancouver 2023 would serve as an ideal platform for an increased cooperation between the private sectors of both countries that would impetus to the bilatera commerce and trade.
He told the audience Pakistan High Commission had recently arranged Pakistan fashion and culture shows and exhibitions in Toronto and Ottawa and it had started working actively on plans to arrange a Pakistan Fashion Industry Expo in March 2024, and the Pakistan Trade Expo in October 2024.