Islamabad: The Dutch Investment Company is set to establish state-of-the-art Pakistan-Netherlands Dairy Excellence Centre. In this regard, President Roel Neerbos and CEO Hein Schumacher of Friesland Campina along with a delegation visited the Board of Investment (BOI), WealthPK reported.
An agreement has been inked between the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore and Friesland Campina in the presence of BOI officials. The centre will be established in two phases with an investment of PKR750 million.
The centre will be established in Lahore for production of cheese. The expected production of cheese will be 2.24 million grams annually.
The delegation also discussed the possibility of Friesland Campina providing their expertise in milk packaging which would further improve the quality of packaged milk in Pakistan.
It also looks forward to working in the area of animal nutrition. The BOI also invited the Dutch investors to participate in the Global Investment Summit to be held in March this year.
Talking to the INP-WealthPK about the BOI’s efforts to create a conducive business environment in the country, the BOI spokesperson said to further strengthen bilateral investment, a B2B meeting was also being scheduled.
She said a delegation from Pakistan visited the Netherlands in 2018 and conducted on-spot inspection of production sites, crop production, pest surveillance and plant health system, research activities, testing system and held discussions with various stakeholders, WealthPK reported.
She said the Dutch investors were apprised of the BOI’s role as the apex investment promotion agency and also briefed about the Special Economic Zones along with a generous set of incentives available there.
The spokesperson said the Dutch investors also called on Secretary of BOI Ms. Fareena Mazhar and shared that a number of investors from their dairy and cheese sector will be visiting Pakistan from March 23-24 to explore investment opportunities in the dairy sector including maritime, food processing and will have B2B meetings.
Vice Chancellor of University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore Prof. Dr Nasim Ahmed said Pakistan is the world’s third largest dairy nation producing 47 million tonnes of milk annually.
Pakistan imports genetic material (semen) from the Netherlands for artificial insemination to local non-descript animals and also imports diary/breeding cattle. It also imports more than 7,000 metric tons of seed potatoes valuing around Euro 1 million per annum from the Netherlands.
Dr Nasim said Pakistan has a vast potential in the field of livestock, especially in the flourishing cheese market.
Moreover, the dairy excellence centre would also manage the deployment of academic talent (research sponsorship for Pakistani students) at the Netherlands and exchange programs would also commence, incorporating dairy expertise and educating farmers by arranging Farmer2Farmer missions.
Dutch farmers and experts would visit Pakistan for guidance and hands-on assistance of local farmers, while Pakistani farmers will also visit the Netherlands for hands-on training. -INP
