BoI chief hints at early pact on Pak-Iran gas pipeline

Board of Investment (BoI) Chairman Waseem Haqqie has hinted at breakthrough in Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline deal soon. "The gas pipeline agreement with Iran is likely to be finalised soon," he said. He, however, did not give the timeframe in this regard. Speaking at the inaugural session of a two-day "International Investment Conference on Call Centres" here on Saturday, he said, "Pakistan is expecting 10 billion dollars as foreign direct investment (FDI) in next five years in telecom and oil & gas as well as power sectors.
"The country offers enormous investment opportunities for foreign companies," he said, adding, "By improving regional stability, coupled with the growing economy, the business of call centres would further grow."
"We all know that the relation with India has improved in the last two years. As far as Afghanistan is concerned, the trade with that country increased to $ 1 billion."
He said: "We have unearthed only 3 percent of our surveyed oil and 15 percent of gas, while the country has potential reserves of coal and other natural resources."
He said the government of Pervez Musharraf has identified five potential areas that can help in increasing investments in Pakistan, which include information technology, oil and gas, agriculture, power and telecommunication.
Pakistan's IT sector, he said, has grown rapidly in response to the increasing requirements of the domestic business, services, institutions as well as global demand.
He said: "As far as call centres are concerned, it is a cost effective and sizeable income business. The call centre business in the last decade had increased drastically across the world. "Pakistan offers a conducive climate for such a growing business."The agenda of reforms initiated by the government has now started giving results both on the economic and the social fronts as well, he added.
He said that the government is giving priority to private sector, including foreign investment, as part of its dynamic policy for restructuring and revitalisation of the national economy.
"Today, all economic sectors in the country are open for investment and foreign investors can easily own 100 percent equity in IT and telecom sector under the investment policy," he added.