U.S. & Pakistan Sign Agreement

U.S. and Pakistan Sign Agreement to Promote Soybean Utilization and Sales

In a ceremony in Lahore, Pakistan, the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) and the All Pakistan Solvent Extractors' Association (APSEA) signed a memorandum of understanding. The agreement will promote the development and use of the soybean complex and import of U.S. soy and encourage cooperation on resolution of policy issues in Pakistan. Mr. Dan Duran, USSEC CEO, and Mr. Khawaja Mehboob-ur-Rehman, APSEA Chairman, signed on behalf of their organizations. Pakistan is a major user of soybean oil and soybean meal and, in recent years, the extraction industry has had positive experiences with U.S. soybeans brought into the country through U.S. Government programs and auctioned off to local crushers.

Presided over by Mr. Mian Shafquat Ali, President of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the ceremony was attended by key representatives from extraction, feed milling, poultry, refining and food industries.

R to L: Dan Duran, USSEC CEO; Bryan Hunt, Principal Officer with the US Consulate in Pakistan; Mian Shafqat Ali, President of Lahore (Pakistan) Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Virgil Miedema, USSEC / ASA-IM Regional Director; Khwaja Mehboob-ur-Rehman, Chairman of the All Pakistan Solvent Extractors' Association; Mushahid Shah, Chief Executive of OK Oil Mills (Pvt) Ltd; and Shahnawaz Janjua, USSEC / ASA-IM Technical Director for Pakistan

The activities of USSEC are made possible by producer checkoff dollars invested by the United Soybean Board and various State Soybean Councils, support from cooperating industry, and through the American Soybean Association's investment of cost-share funding provided by USDA's Foreign Agriculture Service.