Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has expressed the confidence that Pakistan will attract $3 billion worth of foreign direct investment (FDI) during the current financial year.
Talking to media representatives at a breakfast meeting here on Wednesday, he said that last year Pakistan received $1.5 billion of the FDI, largest in the history of the country.
Referring to his meetings with top Japanese businessmen and corporate sector, the prime minister said most of them had committed to make investment in Pakistan in different sectors.
He said Honda Motors had announced to set up a plant in Pakistan for its exclusive manufacturing of CD-70 brand motorcycles for global marketing.
He hoped the decision of Japan to resume official development assistance would encourage the Japanese companies to invest more in Pakistan.
Shaukat said that Pakistan, located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia, was poised to become a production centre and regional manufacturing hub.
He said following the successful floatation of the Islamic bond - Sukuk - Pakistan would go for another euro bond by the end of this year or early next year. "Our goal is to come to the international market once a year to maintain linkages with the investors," he added.
He also gave an overview of Pakistan's agenda of reforms in political and economic fields.
He said Pakistan was a functioning democracy with active Parliament and vibrant opposition and media, and referred to the introduction of grassroots democracy where women and minorities had adequate representation.
About the United Nation reforms, Shaukat said Pakistan wanted the reforms to be broad-based, democratic and equitable. "Our policy is not country specific, it is generic and based on principles," he said.
To a question, he said the attempt to link Pakistan to London bombings was unfortunate. There was no evidence of link of anybody to London incidents and no one had been arrested in Pakistan in that connection, he added.
He said the world needed to look at the issue of terrorism holistically and address its root cause.
He said there is a need to reform and strengthen the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (Saarc), adding that for Saarc to be effective, every member should be treated equally and should have equal voice.
He said Pakistan was not in an arms race with India and its nuclear programme was aimed at maintaining strategic balance in the region. "We have no intention of matching India's defence, but we will maintain a minimum deterrence."
To a question about the recent US-India strategic accord, the prime minister said, "We believe in peace with all our neighbours and are making progress in talks with India."
He said Pakistan desired peace with India, but both the countries must try to find a peaceful solution to the longstanding issues, especially the core issue of Kashmir. He said the areas of health, education, and social sectors were the priority of his government.
The prime minister said Pakistan has no role or linkage in the nuclearisation of North Korea and the country strictly believed in non-proliferation.
He said, "We believe in a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and we believe that there should be no proliferation whatsoever."
He said the information gathered from Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan network jointly with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been shared with other countries, besides Japan. "We have closed this unfortunate chapter, which was an individual act and grossly overstated," he said.
He said Pakistan was a responsible nuclear power with a robust command and control system, adding that the country's nuclear assets were under that system.
The prime minister said Pakistan believed that every country had the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes under the IAEA guidelines.
"We do not think anybody should proliferate and that's been our position consistently," he said.
He said Pakistan was looking forward to meet 8 percent of its energy needs through nuclear power under its 20-year energy plan, adding that all its nuclear power plants were working under the IAEA guidelines.
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