Opportunities with Pakistan

Oct 24 2006 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

TRADING opportunities with Pakistan are being flagged up for UK firms by a Huddersfield businessman.

Mohammed Shafi, managing director of Tyreseal, will outline his own experiences of trading in Pakistan at a seminar in West Yorkshire later this month.

The event - to be staged on Tuesday, October 31, at Leeds Civic Hall - will provide information about an estimated £1bn of trading opportunities in Pakistan.

It will be followed up with a trade trip to the country next February.

Speakers at the Leeds event will also include Hamish Daniel, UK director of trade and investment for Pakistan and deputy high commissioner in Karachi.

Mr Shafi said his company had set up a network of distributors in Pakistan, adding: "We have developed a relationship with the country which is really paying off.

"I hope that sharing my experiences of trading with the region will help other businesses to take advantage of the valuable opportunities that exist."

Mr Daniel said: "Pakistan's economy is far healthier than when I was posted there two years ago.

"Inflation is low, exports and imports and growing fast and the country's credit rating is good."

The meeting will include presentations by Tate & Lyle, which is already trading in the region, and Saira Najeeb Ahmed, the commercial secretary from the economic and trade arm of the high commission in Pakistan.

It is being hosted jointly by Leeds City Council and Chamber Management Services, which works for chambers of commerce in Leeds, Bradford, York and North Yorkshire.

Tyreseal, formed in 2001, makes and sells a puncture proof tyre system via distributors in the UK and abroad. It has a head office at Chapel Hill and a manufacturing and distribution centre at Longroyd Bridge.

The company was formed by Mr Shafi after eight years in the tyre industry .Tyreseal makes an adhesive liquid compound - originally developed by the military to create bullet proof tyres. The product, which contains rubber particles, is injected into the tyre and seals punctures as soon as they occur.

The firm supplies private car owners as well as van and lorry fleets and operators of heavy plant such as tipper trucks and mechanical diggers.