Pakistani team invited to 'International Pow Wow' show in San Francisco

To promote bilateral travel and trade relations between Pakistan and United States, the Department of US Commercial Service, US Consulate-General, Karachi, will organise a trade show under the name and style of 'International Pow Wow" at the Moscone Convention Centre, San Francisco, from May 21 to 25.
At a briefing held at the Office of Travel Agents Association of Pakistan (TAAP) here on Wednesday, Sohrab Jang and Mohammad Amir from US Consulate informed the participants that 70 countries would be participating in this trade show. They said that US Consulate is very eager that a delegation of TAAP also should participate in the event.
The idea behind inviting TAAP is to promote tourism between the two countries. The visit of Pakistani delegation would coincide with various B2B discussions with the delegates of other participating countries so that travel trade of Pakistan could be benefited in all respects.
US officials also stated that in San Francisco there are umpteen places for the tourists and, of course, the infrastructure is also very good for the tourists and these facilities would be highlighted during the show. The 'International Pow Wow' show has full support from the US government and the Department of US Commercial Service, Karachi, which will provide their fullest co-operation to Pakistani delegates. The status of Pakistani delegation during the show would be VVIP, they added.
TAAP Chairman Yahya Polani assured fullest co-operation of the members of TAAP in making the trade show successful. He also assured that to increase bilateral trade relations between the two countries, TAAP would play an important role during the exhibition.. On account of war against terrorism, Pakistan has lost its soft image before the international community, badly affecting both tourism sector and economy, Polani said.
The forthcoming exhibition would be a great opportunity for Pakistan's travel industry to highlight the tourists places in Pakistan, particularly K-2 mountain, Kalam, Murree, etc, which had attracted tourists from all over the world up to late 1990s. Unfortunately, afterwards due to the war against terrorism, these places were abandoned by the tourists.
The TAAP Chairman regretted that international media had also been unkind and painted a negative picture before the world. He, however, appreciated the efforts of US Consulate in organising such events and inviting Pakistani delegation to clear the misgivings in the minds of foreigners about Pakistan. The briefing was attended by central executive committee members of TAAP. Prominent among them were Nadeem Sharif, Hanif Rinch and Hanif Dossani who attended as observers.