Group photo with ex-nazim of Sialkot Mian Naeem Javid at a dinner reception hosted in his honor by Basheer Ahmed Chaudhry, Finance Secretary of Pakistan Investor's Forum with some others noted Pakistani personalities. RIYADH – Sialkot City, Punjab Province, Pakistan is wooing Saudi Airlines to include the city in its direct flight list, said ex-Nazim of Sialkot Mian Naeem Javid at a dinner reception recently hosted in his honor by Basheer Ahmed Chaudhry, Finance Secretary of Pakistan Investor's Forum in Riyadh. “We are now in contact with Saudi Airlines to start their flights which may bring an enormous boost of air traffic to Sialkot and it will handle transportation of thousands of Umrah and Haj travelers too,” he said. Naeem said Sialkot's international airport is one of its kind in the world as it is owned by the private sector. Air Arabia, Shaheen Air, PIA and Fly Dubai are running their flight operations from Sialkot successfully and the addition of Gulf Air and Emirates Airline added more value to the world-class business destination. Naeem, a noted businessman, and former president of Sialkot Airport Authority visited Riyadh to explore opportunities to launch mega Pakistani brand of products “Sub Lime” in the Kingdom. Moreover, Naeem said Saudi Arabia has lots of business potential for Pakistani sports goods manufacturers. “We offer Saudi businessmen to establish their own brand names in order to reduce their buying costs as Pakistan can produce the same which Saudi Arabia is buying from international traders, he added, while sounding upbeat about the Pak-Saudi business relations. Sialkot is internationally renowned for sports goods, leather products, surgical instruments, furniture and cutlery industries. “Sialkot's football industry is recognized as the world capital of football production. Top International brands like Adidas, Puma, Nike and many others are buyers of Pakistani hand-stitched footballs along with their labeled bags, garments and accessories,” Naeem added. The reception was attended by a select gathering of Pakistanis at the residence of Bashir Chaudhry. Noted businessman and industrialist Faryad Chaudhry, Khalid Chaudhry, chairman, PIF; Chaudhry Pervez, Asghar Chishti, Eng. Rashid Butt, Ikram Chaudhry, Imran Jajvi, Faiz Jutt, Atlas Khan, Mahmud Bajwa, Javid Akhter Javid, Babar Ali and many others were present at the reception. – SG
