Foreign investment: UK-Pakistan trade to reach £2.5b by 2015

British delegation arrives and meets Pakistani business leaders.

ISLAMABAD:

Members of a trade mission from the United Kingdom met with senior political and business leaders of Pakistan here on Monday to identify new investment opportunities in the country.

The delegation, whose members represent financial and mining sectors of the United Kingdom, will hold several meetings over the next few days with key business and political leaders in different cities, according to a statement released by the British High Commission.

“This trade mission will explore, identify and commercialise untapped and underdeveloped mining opportunities throughout Pakistan by bridging the gap between London’s capital markets and Pakistan’s mining sector,” the statement said quoting one of the trade mission’s lead coordinators, Nadim Khan, who is a corporate finance partner at a UK law firm.

“We will be looking to provide Pakistan with access to world-class entrepreneurial support, significant foreign capital and technical expertise, which will hopefully provide a gateway for others to follow across other sectors,” Khan said.

The UK is the second largest overseas investor in Pakistan, with over 100 companies operating in the country in different sectors, including education, retail, pharmaceuticals, banking and energy.

Major British companies include Unilever, Shell, GlaxoSmithKline, Standard Chartered Bank and Barclays.

The statement said that generally, British companies reported a good return on their investments in Pakistan, as it was a relatively open economy with a pro-business regulatory regime.“A successful mission will contribute to the target of increasing bilateral trade to £2.5 billion by 2015,” Khan said. Bilateral trade between the UK and Pakistan in 2010 was £1.19 billion.



Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2011.