Ishtiaq Baig is also the Hon Consul General of the Kingdom of Morocco, the President of Pakistan on commission of the government of the Kingdom of Morocco has appointed him as Hon Consul General of Morocco in Pakistan. Mr Ishtiaq Baig contributed immensely to increase the bilateral trade and investment between Pakistan and Morocco.

On the commission of Government of Morocco, Government of Pakistan has appointed him Hon. Consul General of Kingdom of Morocco for the consular jurisdiction over the province of Sindh.

It is an honor and privilege for me to represent Morocco a country I have close association with.

As Honorary Consul General of Morocco it is my priority to facilitate and promote investment, bilateral trade and social ties between the two brotherly countries. Exchange of trade delegations, holding single country exhibition in Morocco and participation of high powered Moroccan trade delegation in expo Pakistan are few examples in this regard.

I consider Morocco my second home having literally lived two decades of my life Morocco, the pride is mine in saying that my awareness of the country vis-à-vis its people, customs and tradition, language, economy, its strength has instilled a greater sense of belonging in me.

My group has also the privilege of being the first Pakistani group having business setup in Morocco for the last twenty years. Pak Denim a project of Baig Group is actively exporting its textile products to Morocco.

I am also Chairman of Pak Morocco Business Council of FPCCI

It is an honor and privilege for me to represent Morocco a country I have close association with. I am also chairman of Pak Morocco Business Council of FPCCI. I always consider Morocco as my second home. Having spent a considerable period of time during the last two decades of my life in Morocco, the pride is mine in saying that my awareness of the country and its people has instilled a great sense of belonging in me.

Now briefly I would tell you about the Kingdom of Morocco known in Pakistan as Marakash the country of Tariq Bin Ziyad the great warrior and Ibne Batuta the great traveler.

The country is located at the gateway of Africa and Europe bordered by the Mediterranean in the North and by the Atlantic in the west being largely open on the Sahara desert. The only Muslim country closes to Europe & America. Spain a European country is just a few kilometers away by sea. Morocco has always been the hub of history making.

Morocco is country of 30 million inhabitants. Arabic is the official language but French is widely spoken as second language. MoroccoFrance in 1956. Morocco was having full support of Pakistan and its people during the struggle of their independence from france. was a French colony and got its independence from

The country has the honour of organizing three OIC conferences. The first conference was held in 1969 in Moroccan city of Casablanca followed by two more OIC conferences held in 1984 and in 1999.

Morocco has many attractions for tourist including a pleasant climate, ancient towns, deserts, mountains range and landscape besides sea coasts of Atlantc and Meditereanean. More than 6 million tourist visited morocco last year. Morocco is becoming one of the privilege sites where international directors and producers like to soot their films. About twenty to thirty American and European films are made every year. They find the land stilmulating place for realizing their imagination. Films like Lawrence of Arabia, Alexander, Othello, The man who would be king, Mummy, Rules of Engagement, Gladiator, Spy Gain, Black Hawk Down, Exorcist and Casablanca all picturized in Morocco.

Morocco has a GDP of $66 billion with a per captia income of $2000. the GDP growth last year was 8.5%, highest in that region.

Agriculture is the main economy contributing 19% of the GDP and employing 45% of its population. The industrial sector is contributing 35% of GDP and employing 25% of labour force. The tourism is a very vital sector of economy. 6.5 million tourists contributed US$ 6.5 billion last year to the country’s economy.

Morocco has vast mineral resources and phpsphate is the most important mineral which is exported in large quantity. The Fauji Fertilizer and OCP (Office Cherifien des Phosphates) morocco have entered into a first ever joint venture in morocco by the name of Pakistan Maroc Phosphore S.A. at an estimated cost of US$24 million. It will produce 375,000 MT of Phosphric Acid tomeet the requirement of FFBL for the production of DAP.

Pakistan and Morocco has always enjoyed close and cordial relation but the volume of trade between the two countries does not justify the close bond of relation. Pakistan stands at 57^th position in the list of provider .e. Pakistan’s share is 0.36% of Moroccan import.

For the year 2006 total export of Morocco was US$20 billion Our export to Morocco was US$11.50 million where as import from Morocco was $147 million. I strongly feel there exists a great potential between the two countries to increase bilateral trade and investment. It is my great honour to represent this great country in Karachi, Sindh and to prove to be perfect liaison between the two countries where I possess a wealth of exposure and connections in the superlative way that would surely bring excellet results.

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