The Foreign Office (FO) and Ministry of Trade and Commerce denied making any trade with the Middle Eastern country on Sunday amid rumors of a goods exchange between Pakistan and Israel.
The first cargo of food items having Pakistani origins arrived in Israel, according to the American Jewish Congress (AJC), and this resulted in bilateral trade.
FO spokesman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch informed local media that Pakistan does not have diplomatic or trade contacts with Israel in response to the alleged trade.
She insisted, “The policy has not changed.”
The news statement from the AJC was incorrectly attributed, according to a spokesperson for the ministry of commerce, because it makes no mention of Pakistan’s official commercial links with Israel.
“Speculation about the start of trade between Pakistan and Israel is pure misinformation. We don’t currently have trading contacts with Israel and don’t intend to.”
Commerce and Trade Secretary Sualeh Ahmad Faruqui had earlier told local media that Pakistan had not sent any export shipments to Israel and that any assertions to the contrary were just political misinformation.
The remark made by the trade secretary was backed up by the customs officers at the Karachi Port, as per media reports.
The American Jewish Congress claimed in a statement on “trade between the State of Israel and Pakistan” that Israel had received the first shipment from Pakistan on March 30.
