First ever Nordic Pakistan Business Summit
After two successful Finland-Pakistan Business Summit events held in Islamabad in 2014 and 2015 it is now time to expand the event up to the Nordic Level. Over 300 participants and over 200 companies in total have joined the earlier events and the third one, now Nordic Pakistan Business Summit, is hosted in Lahore on February 7-9, 2016.
The main function of the Business Summit is purely business. The Summit is bridging companies together for Growth, Networking and New Opportunities and in February 2016 companies from Pakistan and all Nordic countries i.e. Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland as well as Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are invited to join this massive but effective business event, the biggest ever promotion of business in Pakistan done by private companies.
“I believe both sides have the same challenge: Nordic companies don’t understand the dynamics and opportunities of the Pakistani market and Pakistani companies don’t understand the purchasing power of the common Nordic market with only 26 million people”, says Mr. Wille Eerola, Chairman of the Summit.
Mattias Martinsson, CIO at Sweden based Tundra Fonder first visited Pakistan in 2005. Tundra Fonder is an independent fund manager specialising in frontier markets and emerging markets. Tundra Fonder was the first fund manager to facilitate investment in a country where almost 200 million people are working to create a future of growth.
“Behind the international media image of Pakistan as a hotbed of terrorism and international threat, Tundra Fonder found something completely different. A young, fast-growing population, skilled executives and some of the most exciting and cheap companies they had ever encountered during their years in emerging markets. Compared to other emerging markets corporate governance and transparency well ahead in Pakistan, catering for great opportunities for profit”, says Mattias Martinsson, Tundra Fonder.
Joining for growing business
Pakistan is a huge market of almost 200 million people and growing middle-class keeps the society running and developing in the future. Currently there are several major projects going on e.g. in infrastructure and construction offering plenty of opportunities to Nordic companies in education, energy, cleantech and environmental technology generally, healthcare. Simultaneously the Pakistani companies are looking for new markets for their products and production and the Nordic region with a strong purchasing power is a perfect area to be researched for them.
“This is a perfect win-win situation. Nordic region is a common economic area that Pakistani companies should really look closely: simultaneously Pakistan is a huge and developing market where we can help Nordic companies to find new business and right partners”, says Mr. Wille Eerola.
Nordic knowledge and Pakistan is a perfect match
There are clearly two main bottlenecks in the development of Pakistan: clean water and energy. Both are areas where Nordic companies have so much to offer. “If only 1 per cent of waste water is treated in a market of almost 200 million people, it is obvious that there is a strong need for the Nordic CleanTech knowledge and companies”, says Mr. Hassan Raza, Co-Chairman of the Summit.
Summit is organized in cooperation of Finland Pakistan Business Council, Chamber Trade Sweden and Nordic Pakistan Business Council.
Read more about the Summit and register through the Nordic Pakistan Business Summit website.
More details:
Ms. Charlotte Kalin, CEO Chamber Trade Sweden, phone +46 70568 8019
Ms. Malin Dacke, Programme Manager, Chamber Trade Sweden, phone +46 70508 9050
Mr. Wille Eerola, Chairman, Nordic Pakistan Business Summit 2016, phone +358 40 5316720
Mr. Hassan Raza, Co-Chairman, Nordic Pakistan Business Summit 2016, phone +92 323 5101050