DHL to invest $9m in Pakistan operations

DHL is going to invest some US$9 million in Pakistan to strengthen its freight forwarding and supply chain operations in the South Asian country which, the DHL executives believe, is potentially a huge market for multinational companies, Business Recorder reported.

Further, DHL wants Pakistan and India to remove mutual trade barriers which were discomforting its logistics work in the South Asian region.

"The $9 million investment that we are putting now into function in Pakistan is for enhancing the capabilities of our employees," said Amadou Diallo, chief executive officer of DHL Global Forwarding for South Asia Pacific.

Diallo said DHL Global Forwarding in Pakistan had grown exponentially over the last few years and the $9 million investment reflected the company's continued confidence and commitment to the market.

Greatly encouraged by the widespread enthusiasm, optimism and entrepreneurship in Pakistan, the DHL executive said his company had decided to train young graduates because universities there were not offering any courses on logistics.

Diallo said he sees a lot of opportunities in the terrorism-hit Pakistan in terms of "cross border road freight solutions" that, he said, could connect the strategically-located country to the Europe via Turkish capital, Istanbul.

"Terrorism is something that happens... in every market of the world... the main impact that we have seen it has somewhat nurtured some sort of discomfort for people who are happy to come and invest," he said.

Diallo said his company could help Pakistan in upgrading its communication infrastructure like domestic transportation, underdeveloped airport facilities etc, as lack of such infrastructure was little bit of a problem in the country.

DHL official also offered its consultancy services to the local Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and would help the latter develop the supply chain solutions as well as access new markets in South Africa, Middle East, China etc.

"They need consultations so we can explain them what documentation is needed for a county A, B C because different documentations needed for different countries and how customs procedures work at different destinations and that would help SMEs access markets which they probably could not access before," Diallo said.

life sciences. He opined that it was important for the government to have a comprehensive range of logistics services to make the local businesses competitive.

(Source: Cargo News Asia)