The Board of Investment is organising chief executive officers (CEOs) forum in Islamabad on October 25 wherein the Turkish Prime Minister along with 43 CEOs is participating to explore business and investment opportunities in Pakistan. Secretary Board of Investment Tariq Iqbal Puri stated this while briefing Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry on investment scenario in Pakistan.
He said the Board was holding an investment conference to be attended by leading businessmen and honorary investment counsellors and the very objective of the event was to give an update on investment scenario in the country. He said the government had appointed 64 honorary investment counsellors all over the world for the promotion of trade and investment and positive results of these appointments had started pouring in. The government in collaboration with private sector was finding out a sustainable and economically viable solution to the challenges being faced by the business community, he added.
The Secretary said despite all odds a number of foreign investors were ready to come to Pakistan only because of huge potential. The business community needed to understand that economic issues being faced by the country were not going to stay for long and hopefully the situation would take a positive turn in next eight to nine months, he maintained.
Tariq Iqbal Puri said special attention was being paid on law and order and the supply of electricity. The restoration of confidence of the business community was another area, which was on the priority list of the government. He said special economic zones were being carved out to attract direct foreign investment.
Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry said there was a dire need for foreign investment in labour-intensive industries because every year 400,000 people were adding to the existing workforce. He said it could easily be done through active participation of commercial attachés working in foreign countries and private sector's collaboration with chambers of commerce in other countries.
"The present year like 2008 is witnessing a terrible state of affairs, whether they exist in the shape of terrorism, higher energy prices, an exceptional surge in food inflation or in the form of a financial market crisis to match the great depression of 1930's," he added.
He said these developments had had adverse consequences of differing degrees for economies in different parts of the world, including the USA and the UK. He said these external developments had equally played an important role in stressing Pakistan's macro economic imbalances while unsettled domestic political conditions and an uncertain security environment had adversely affected the performance of country's economy. If this alarming situation continued, the wheel of industry, which had already slowed down, would get jammed due to growing energy shortage in the country, he added.
He said the LCCI had repeatedly requested the government to seriously focus on the increase in production on a sustainable basis and to fully exploit renewable energy resources so that they could promote their businesses on sustainable lines.
The government also needed to develop a strong liaison with the business community and whatever the decisions it took, must be on permanent basis (and not on ad-hoc basis, he said and added that a drastic cut in government expenditures and enhanced productivity were the answers to the liquidity crunch. LCCI Senior Vice President Ejaz Mumtaz stressed the need for establishing strong liaison between the policy makers and the stakeholders, which would be helpful in bringing the country out of mire.
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