She was delivering her inaugural speech in the four-day workshop on 'Dynamics of Banking in the New Millennium', at the Institute of Bankers Pakistan (IBP) on Friday. She said that she is not a banker, but a lawyer, by profession but realised the importance of banking and finance and that was the reason that she had become a frequent visitor to IBP.
Verena expressed appreciation about the partnership that has bloomed between her country and Pakistan. IBP had formed a partnership with Senior Expert Service (SES), an amalgamated company of the people who were 50 plus but wanted to endow their expertise in the field of banking and finance to those who were willing to get it on an affordable price.
"It is a matter of great pride and satisfaction to me that the German companies are making inroads in Pakistan", she said proudly. She cited the example of Porsche cars that have entered Pakistan market and Metro supermarket chain that aims to open its outlets in Pakistan shortly.
She praised the policy shift in Pakistan's exports as the country was trying to curtail its dependence on textiles and was moving towards heavy and light machinery exports. "I was in the Hanover Expo and saw the change myself", she said.
The consul also told the audience about a German website that had put Pakistan as a safe destination in their travel advisory. "A good news, indeed", she added.
Klaus Lueg, a senior expert from Deutsche Bank, who has retired but is connected to SES, gave a very brief 'Synopsis of Dynamics of Banking in New Millennium'.
He had arrived in the morning and the jet lag, according to him, was making him sort of disorganised. He explained that SES provided services to the companies who want to be represented by it for banking services.
Muhammad Saleem Umar, Chief Executive, enlightened the participants about the ever-increasing academic standard of IBP and its pursuits to be one of the best banking institutes in the world. He said that the workshop would be held in Karachi and Lahore to enhance professional knowledge of bankers. He reiterated IBP's quest to seek knowledge "from anywhere and everywhere". He said that 13 foreign experts had visited the IBP last year and he hoped that the number would increase in the current year.