ISLAMABAD: There is a need for increasing investment by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in diverse fields, remarked Saudi Arabian Minister for Investment Khalid Al-Falih.
In a meeting with Minister of State and Board of Investment (BOI) Chairman Muhammad Azfar Ahsan in Tashkent on Thursday, he proposed the creation of a joint team comprising officials of the BOI and National Companies Promotion Programme to finalise investment projects in Pakistan.
Falih was highly appreciative of the initiatives introduced by the government of Pakistan to facilitate investment in the country.
He invited a BOI team to visit Saudi Arabia along with relevant stakeholders to market investment projects of the public and private sectors.
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He announced that he would soon visit Pakistan to give a push to the bilateral economic cooperation between the two countries.
On the occasion, the BOI chairman spoke in detail about the investment prospects in Pakistan.
“Pakistan is taking several measures to prop up savings and investment in a bid to increase employment generation as well as ensure greater resource availability for investment,” he said.
In the meeting, a report of the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) was taken up for discussion, which said that a vast majority of investors in Pakistan were optimistic about the growth potential of the country.
Ahsan also cited the measures taken by the BOI to reduce the compliance burden for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and gave details of the Pakistan Regulatory Modernisation Initiative (PRMI).
He mentioned the special incentives offered to investors in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) with the overall objective of achieving economic and industrial development goals.
During the meeting, an insightful discussion on drafting a long-term strategy for Saudi Arabia and Pakistan was held in order to create an atmosphere of investment facilitation between the two nations.
Both sides underscored the need to enhance collaboration and investment in various sectors including agriculture, food processing, mining, renewable energy, refinery, petrochemicals and information technology and vowed to strengthen business and economic ties.
It was agreed that “shovel-ready projects” including an oil refinery would be shared with Saudi Arabia to kick-start development work while the remaining projects would be
finalized soon.
