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_: PAGE: TELL ME SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF, PLEASE:
ANWAR IQBAL: I am the Chief Executive Officer of Silver Sea! International, an auto consultancy firm specializing in all segments of the industry from two-wheelers, cars, buses, trucks and commercial vehicle. For two decades, I have been playing an extremely proactive role in various capacities and at various levels in the auto and related industry. I first visited China in 1987, when Pakistani automobile market was heavily dominated by expensive Japanese and to some extent European products. The aim of the visit was to explore ways to find inexpensive auto products and was successful as I managed to import a four-stroke 70cc motorcycle and a lOOOcc pickup.
By late eighties, I managed to broaden the base of my work to the conversion of lOOOcc petrol engine into diesel engine, once again from China, as I visited the country at least two-dozen times between 1987 and 1989. Every single of these trips was meant to carrying of excess baggage that is mostly consisted of engine parts. During this time, I managed to convert a left-hand drive vehicle in to right-hand drive vehicle to make them fit for plying on Pakistani roads. The prototype resulted in the conversion of 25 more vehicles in China.
I have been worked in high decision making positions with Dewan Motorcycles, Habib Motorcycles, Fateh Motors Ltd and as the Chairman of Pak China Cultural and Businessman Society.
I remember my early association with the Pakistani auto industry with fondness because that reminds me of days, full of challenges and struggle. My first big break came when I got engaged with working in China on the conversion of light commercial vehicles comparable to locally produced Suzuki pick-ups from petrol to diesel in 1992. At that time, righthand drive vehicles were not available in China and so was the case with the diesel version of the pick-up under discussion. I asked for these two conversions. I managed to arrange a financing of $100,000 for the conversion project and we also supplied the parts and the accessories that were flown out of Pakistan. I worked under extremely cold weather in Hefei, China and managed to convert 500 vehicles to diesel and right-hand drive. First of these...