President sees Qatar investment in many areas

Calls for increasing quota of skilled and unskilled workers

ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain has expressed hope that the Qatar Investment Authority will invest in various sectors of Pakistan’s economy, particularly energy, infrastructure and agriculture.

Talking to Sheikh Falah bin Jassim bin Jabbor Al Thani, brother of Qatar’s ex-prime minister, who met him along with a delegation at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Tuesday, Hussain said Pakistan was an investment-friendly country offering lucrative incentives to foreign entrepreneurs.

He pointed to the liberal foreign exchange regime in Pakistan with no restriction on the inflow and outflow of funds for business transactions. Pakistan also provides high returns on capital injection and cheap labour is available in abundance.

Hussain praised Qatar for its support for an early conclusion of the Pakistan-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) free trade agreement, saying it would strengthen economic and trade ties between Pakistan and the GCC bloc.

He laid stress on the desire to promote, strengthen and diversify Pakistan’s relations with Qatar in all fields of bilateral interest. “Ties with Qatar were marked by brotherhood and a high degree of mutual trust and were rooted in shared faith, ideology and common interests,” he said.

Hussain noted that Pakistani expatriates working in Qatar were serving as a strong bridge between the two countries and said Pakistan was looking for expansion in the designated quota for skilled and unskilled manpower for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Doha.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2015.

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