PR No.173 BILL GATES SAID THAT HE IS LOOKING FORWARD TO HIS VISIT IN THE COMING MONTHS TO PAKISTAN. PRIME MINISTER MUHAMMAD NAWAZ SHARIF ROUND-TABLE MEETING WITH CEOS Davos: January 19, 2017

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif held a round-table meeting with prominent CEOs on the sidelines of World Economic Forum at Davos today. PM said that our government has devised a comprehensive plan to create investment friendly environment, liberalizing investment policies to welcome foreign investments. We offer incentives to attract new capital inflows, including tax exemptions, tariff reductions, infrastructure, and investor facilitation services, emphasized the Prime Minister.

PM highlighted to the CEOs that Pakistan offers to establish Special Economic Zones (SEZ) which provides tax holiday for investors with duty free import of plant and machinery. Government has set up Export Processing Zones where investors enjoy special facilities and tax holidays. All these facilities are duly protected by legislation and, therefore, we would like to invite you to establish your exclusive SEZ in Pakistan, stated the PM.

Law of Special Economic Zones has been made to meet global challenges of competitiveness to attract FDI and it allows creating industrial clusters with liberal incentives, infrastructure and investor facilitation services to enhance productivity and reduce cost of doing business, highlighted the Prime Minister.

PM also said that the Economic outlook of Pakistan has altogether changed in last 3 years, which is being acknowledged globally. Standard & Poor (S&P) has upgraded Pakistan’s long-term credit rating to B and in a recent survey by American Business Council of Pakistan, 78% of US investors plan to invest in Pakistan.

Prime Minister added that today, our government has managed to stabilize the economy, with economic conditions improving continuously. GDP growth is projected to achieve a 5.5 % growth during the current year, from just 3% in 2013. Fiscal deficit has come down from 8.6% to 4.2%, Tax to GDP ratio has increased from 9.8% to 12.4 % and investment to GDP ratio from 14.9% to 15.2%. Foreign exchange reserves have now increased to over US$ 24.5 billion.

All CEOs praised the economic outlook of Pakistan and shared their optimism regarding investment in Pakistan . They are of the view that Pakistan is a good destination for re-export of their value added products.  The CEOs assured the Prime Minister that Pakistan is now ready for investment absorption due to its sound economic policies.

CEOs present at Round Table meeting with the Prime Minister included Mr. Tadashi Maeda, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Managing Director, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Tokyo, Japan; Ms. Ilele Gordon, Chief Executive Officer & Chairman, Ingredion Incorporated, USA; Mr. Levent Cakiroglu, Chief Executive Officer, Koc Holding, Turkey; Mr. Sigve Brekke, President & Chief Executive Officer, Telenor Group, Norway; Ms. Wang Ling, Executive Vice President, Nestle; Ms. Petra Lox, Head Public Affairs, Novartis AG, Switzerland; and Mr. Martyn Parker, Chairman, Global Partnerships, Swiss Re Management Ltd United Kingdom, Western Europe.

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