Conditions favourable for business: investment board

Conference planned in October to woo foreign investors.

KARACHI:

Board of Investment (BOI) Chairman Salim H Mandviwalla has said conditions are very favourable for operating business ventures and that is the reason foreign investment is coming into the country.

Speaking at a press conference at the BOI office here on Saturday, he said business activities were continuing as usual as power shortages in Karachi were not a hurdle for the industry, rather it was a problem of Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC). “Record exports of $25 billion is a proof that industrial and trade activities are flourishing in the country,” he pointed out.

He said the volume of exports had also increased along with the rise in value of Pakistani products and it was expected to increase further in the future.

Lured by a lucrative market, strategic geographical location and high rate of profits, foreign investors were investing in Pakistan, he said. He blamed the media for portraying a negative image of the country abroad, saying it exaggerated the matters.

Pak-Japan Business Forum President Abdul Qadir Jafar said joint business forums, which had their presence in Pakistan, would hold an investment conference in October. He said Pakistan-Australia Business Forum, Pakistan-Belgium Business Forum, Pak-France Business Alliance and others would invite foreign investors through chambers of commerce of foreign countries and government institutions.

Jafar said five major sectors, which had a good potential for investment and profits, would be projected in the investment conference and their role in the national economy would be highlighted. These areas included engineering, infrastructure, agriculture and dairy, mines and minerals and pharmaceuticals.

More than 100 investors are expected to participate in the conference, who will be presented with feasibility reports prepared by Boards of Investment of Sindh and Punjab.

He said the conference would pave the way for foreign investment, joint ventures, technical cooperation and public-private partnership in the five potential sectors.

The conference will take place on the sidelines of Expo Pakistan, to be held on October 28, where standards and production capacity for about 10,000 Pakistani products would be highlighted.





Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2011.