'US travel advisory needs softening'

The visiting US Business Council mission on Wednesday said that US travel advisory for Pakistan was not in line with the situation on ground and it needed thorough study by the State Department for softening it, if its lifting is not possible.
Managing Director, South Asia Affairs, US Chamber of Commerce and an important member of the mission, Herb Davis, said at a press conference here that US travel advisory for Pakistan, which restricts its citizens from travelling to Pakistan, was a serious concern to the business community. He said the mission was for softening the advisory to facilitate American businessmen's activities in Pakistan.
According to him, the presence of US business delegation in Pakistan itself was a loud and clear message that Pakistan is a sound and secure destination for foreign investors and they must take advantage of it.
He said the softening of the travel advisory would change Pakistan's perception internationally. Herb also spoke of a number of irritants which, to him, were the reasons foreign direct investment being shy.
These are security concerns of foreign investors, lack of intellectual property rights and quick change in country's policy for investors. He admitted that Pakistan has done a great deal to address these concerns but, according to him, much more is needed so that Islamabad emerges as a real player in the world economy.
He appreciated Shaukat Aziz's performance as Finance Minister and called him the real man behind Pakistan's economic success despite heavy odds.
Herb said that Pakistan has great potential to attract foreign direct investment but it needed better image for the advantages to materialise.
Complicated visa procedure for the US was labelled as another major irritant against enhancing trade between Pakistan and the US. He desired the US State Department to improve its visa procedure to facilitate businessmen for travelling between the two countries.
Herb wanted laws in Pakistan on intellectual property rights and their strict implementation to address the concern of American companies in this regard. He termed Powel's visit to Pakistan and possible US debt relief to Pakistan as a good development and hoped that it would help Pakistan accelerate its pace of economic development.
He said he was confident that the US-Pak economic co-operation would continue even if political relations between the two went sour at any particular time in the future.
Pervez Lodhie, another member of the mission, narrated success story of his company - Ledtronics Inc. He said Pakistan was doubtlessly gifted with great potential for becoming economic giant but its advantages were not being cashed properly. He wanted better quantity and quality mechanism in Pakistan to ensure that quality exports were being made from Pakistan.
Pervez told a questioner that he has set up a company in export processing zone in Karachi where zealous and hard working Pakistanis are showing unprecedented progress.
He said the material manufactured by his company in Karachi matches products manufactured in the US and was low cost due to cheap labour and highly skilled professionals.
Expatriates including Najeeb Ghauri, Chairman, Netsol Technologies Inc, Adeel Shah of Telnia Corporation, and Furqan H Siddiqui also painted positive picture of Pakistan and urged the foreign investors to come to Pakistan to see for themselves that ground situation was totally different from what was being projected by the media.