Secretary BOI, Ms. Fareena Mazhar, Minister of State & Chairman BOI Mr. Muhammad Azfar Ahsan, and Pakistan’s Ambassador to US, Dr. Asad Majeed Khan addressed participants during the webinar. While sensitizing the audience about investment opportunities of Pakistan, Ms. Fareena mentioned that Pakistan offers potential investors a robust consumer market with an ever expanding middle class. The country's strategic location at the crossroads of South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia and proximity to the Gulf countries, makes Pakistan a promising regional hub and an important destination for trade and investment, she added. Elaborating on Pakistan’s investment climate, Secretary BOI shared that country has been introducing bold economic reforms to achieve significant improvement in all sectors of economy and Pakistan’s economy has made significant progress reflecting a blend of stabilization and structural reforms. She further added that recent surveys corroborate that confidence of foreign and local investors has immensely increased due to liberal trade and investment policies of our government The Secretary specifically mentioned that Pakistan and USA are partners for prosperity and United States is among the top five investors in Pakistan for the last two decades. She expounded that there is great opportunity for further expanding bilateral trade and investment between the two countries and informed the participants about Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) with USA which is in place since 2003. Ms. Fareena shared that TIFA especially underscores development of an effective bilateral mechanism between the two countries for encouraging trade and investment liberalization. Minister of State & Chairman BOI, Mr. Muhammad Azfar Ahsan while informing the participants about Pakistan’s massive investment potential, shared that in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs), distinctive incentives are being offered to the investors for enhancing productivity and reducing cost of doing business with overall objective to accomplish economic and industrial development goals. He added that it is a great opportunity for prospective investors to invest in the 22 notified SEZs independently or through joint ventures with their Pakistani counterparts and reap benefits from the available incentives thus realizing true potential arising out of CPEC. Mr. Ahsan, while describing BOI’s role, shared that it acts as an interface between international and local investors, public and private sector and works for creating a conducive business environment through policy and strategic interventions. He further informed the audience about BOI spearheading the “Pakistan Regulatory Modernization Initiative” (PRMI), launched by the Honorable Prime Minister of Pakistan. Once rolled out, it shall transform the regulatory landscape across all tiers of government and will simplify and automate the regulatory requirements. He added. Mr. Ahsan said that this platform had brought together business leaders from an array of potential sectors and he would encourage them to explore new approaches to enhance Pakistan-USA trade and investment relationship. He affirmed that he strongly believed this webinar would be instrumental in exploring new horizons for moving towards enhanced trade and investment linkages and extended BOI’s all-out support and facilitation to potential investors from the USA. Ambassador Asad Majeed, while expressing satisfaction on the current US-Pakistan relations added that they should further be strengthened by focusing on bilateral trade and investment and capitalizing on areas of mutual cooperation. He added that Pakistan is replete with investment opportunities and has a lot of potential as an investment destination. Ministry of Commerce (MOC), Engineering Development Board (EDB), National Highway Authority (NHA), Small & Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA), Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) etc. also presented on the business climate and investment regime.
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