The Board of Investment organized Pak-Austria Investors meet-up in Islamabad on March 17, 2022. Minister of State & Chairman BOI, Muhammad Azfar Ahsan, Advisor to PM on Commerce & Investment Abdul Razak Dawood, Vice President of Austrian Federal Economic Chamber Ms. Carmen Goby and Austrian Foreign Minister, Mr. Alexander Schallenberg were keynote speakers at the event. Business Delegation from Austria and notable members from Pakistan's Private sector participated in the Event. Presentations were delivered by Pakistan Public departments to highlight the visiting Investors on govt policies and incentives. Minister of State & Chairman BOI, Muhammad Azfar Ahsan while addressing participants on the occasion stressed that Pakistani and Austrian business communities have always enjoyed fraternal bilateral relations. Austria has been an important development partner and there is a need to further strengthen business and investment relations to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes by focusing on regular exchange of trade & investment delegations to explore all untapped areas of potential cooperation. He added. Chairman BOI apprised the participants on several investment opportunities in Pakistan including energy, financial services, power generation equipment etc. He underscored that despite promising potential for bilateral economic engagements, investment cooperation has reduced over the years. Hence it is time to focus on business to business (B2B) interactions, especially in sectors such as Energy, Railways, Engineering, Construction, Information Technology and Tourism sectors. Elaborating on Pakistan’s potential in petroleum and energy, Mr. Ahsan said that Pakistan is blessed with one of the world’s best locations for solar power and wind power generation and some foreign companies are already successfully working in these areas. He further mentioned that a new Petro-chemical policy is being formulated which will open new vistas of investment. Chairman BOI shared that Board of Investment, being the apex promotion agency of Pakistan is mandated to facilitate industrialization, materialize export potential, encourage diversification in knowledge-based sectors, and enhance a new level of global economic connectivity through effective policy advocacy, investment promotion and facilitation. As Chairman BOI, Mr. Ahsan assured of his assistance to the Austrian investors and said that he was positive that B2B discussions will facilitate cooperation in engineering and energy sectors between Pakistani and Austrian businessmen and serve as a fruitful platform for matchmaking and handholding of Austrian companies with their Pakistani counterparts. Advisor to PM on Commerce & Investment briefed the audience about Pakistan’s liberal investment regime in detail. He shared that the performance in large scale manufacturing, construction, and export sectors of Pakistan is encouraging. He further informed the potential Austrian investors about incentives in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) with overall objective to accomplish economic and industrial development goals. The Advisor to Prime Minister on Trade and Investment welcomed Austrian investors to Pakistani market and discussed opportunities available in Pakistan’s textile, engineering and energy sectors. He stressed that there are immense opportunities for collaboration in the areas such as sugar production, beverages and milk products, plastics, synthetic filaments, made-up textile goods, clothing and accessories, leather goods, shoes and cotton etc. and assured the investors of full support from Government of Pakistan.
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