Pakistan News Desk!! Amid reports of exchange of goods between Pakistan and Israel, the Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) and the Ministry of Trade and Commerce on Sunday denied any trade with the country. The American Jewish Congress (AJC) claimed that bilateral trade took place with the offloading of the first shipment carrying food products of Pakistani origin to Israel. Issuing a clarification on the alleged trade, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that Pakistan does not have diplomatic or trade relations with Israel, according to Geo News. There has been no change in the policy, he insisted. A commerce ministry spokesperson said the AJC press release was misquoted as it made no mention of Pakistan’s official trade relations with Israel.
The spokesperson said, the rumors about commencement of Pakistan-Israel trade are pure propaganda, Geo News reported. We do not have nor do we intend to start trade relations with Israel. On March 30, the American Jewish Congress issued a statement on trade between the State of Israel and Pakistan, claiming that the first shipment from the country had been received in Israel. This week, the first consignment of Pakistani-origin food products was landed in Israel, involving a Pakistani-Jewish businessman Fishel Benkhald, based in Pakistan’s business hub of Karachi, and three Israeli businessmen from Jerusalem and Haifa, the statement said. were involved. It also said that the alleged trade was widely reported by both Pakistani and international media.
The AJC noted that the two countries do not yet have diplomatic relations, but their entrepreneurs and technologists have moved forward in pursuit of common prosperity. Thanks to this initiative (the alleged first trade) eighteen years ago, the barriers and licenses that restricted Israel-Pakistan trade were abolished, Geo News reported. Benkhald is a Pakistani national of Jewish background from Sindh, who is a strong supporter of trade relations between Israel and Pakistan. He is engaged in the business of the kosher food industry.
–IANS
SGK
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