PFBA Patron-in-Chief and Ambassador of France in Pakistan Martine Dorance was also present at the occasion.
“The much-awaited structural reforms for solving energy crisis, widening the tax net and improving the functioning of vital public sector corporations still remains a distant dream,” said PFBA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jamil Hamdani.
He praised the government and state institutions for having boldly taken up the challenge of terrorism faced by the country, but added that foreign investment was the key to developing key economic sectors.
“The economic potential of the country has been under-exploited by the local investors and under-estimated by the foreign investors,” he remarked.
“I hope the new automobile policy encourages European automobile manufacturers to enter the field and national corporations like Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) find a tangible solution to their deep-rooted problems,” he added.
He requested the Business France Director South Asia Thibaut Fabre to reconsider his decision to wind up the official French commercial representation in Karachi and emphasised the need for PFBA to provide real-time, two-way information and services to Pakistani and French companies regarding all aspects of identification of trade, business and investment opportunities.
The PFBA is the representative forum of Pakistani companies having business relations with France and French companies working in Pakistan. Majority of its 192 member companies are from Karachi followed by Lahore, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Peshawar and Islamabad.
According to PFBA, French companies in Pakistan are providing employment to about 5,500 people.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 6th, 2016.
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