'Pakistan can achieve $100 billion FDI target if coercive efforts made'

SAARC CCI Senior Vice President (SVP) Iftikhar Ali Malik said that Pakistan has enormous potential for foreign direct investment (FDI) and the target of $100 billion FDI can be achieved easily if coercive efforts are made.
According to a spokesman, the SAARC senior vice president stated this while speaking at an Iftar dinner a day earlier for the high commissioners and ambassadors including from SAARC member states. Diplomats of various countries including China, Japan, France, Australia, Britain, Turkey, India, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Morocco, UAE, Nepal, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Austria and Tunisia also attended the event.
Malik said that Pakistan was in a race with other regional countries especially with India in attracting more and more FDI. Pakistan's economy is based on strong fundamental of competitiveness. As an emerging economy, Pakistan offers the opportunity of diversification to global players and strong intend to structure forms in various sectors of the economy, he added.
He said Pakistan has a mature financial and legal system and was rapidly removing the bottlenecks in ease of doing business so as to attract more foreign investors into the country. He said work was also on to provide more tax incentives to those who wish to avail the liberal policies of the country.
The challenges of security and energy shortage have already been addressed while the country's economy was growing stronger and international economic institutions have termed all indicators positive. He said by the year 2025, Pakistan would have the fifth largest middle class in the world and the international companies would have no option left but to come and invest in Pakistan. He said the over 60 percent youth of the country were a huge incentive as they were educated, technically skilled and ready to enter the employment field in challenging environment.
He said there was a great potential for foreign companies to grow and do business, and those who do it would find Pakistan friendly and open to them. Iftikhar Malik said massive improvement in security and increased availability of electricity have helped boost foreign investors' confidence in Pakistan.
He said under CPEC, many construction and development projects have been started in Pakistan in energy, infrastructure development, communication and other sectors. Moreover, nine special economic zones would be set up under CPEC in Pakistan that would provide good investment opportunities to foreign and local investors. He said it was high time that foreign investors should visit Pakistan to explore investment and joint ventures in areas of interest.
He asked the diplomats to focus on technology transfer to Pakistan and set up industrial units here. He emphasized that diplomats should apprise the investors of their respective countries about these potential investment opportunities and play role in promoting FDI in Pakistan.