ISLAMABAD: Business community, terming Prime Minister Imran Khan’s maiden tour to United States the most successful in history of Pakistan Thursday hailed the Prime Minister’s prudent vision and determination resetting Islamabad-Washington ties in counter-terrorism, defense, energy and trade.
They said that it would not only help settling many financial difficulties but also projecting good image of Pakistan in abroad. While talking to a delegation of investors Mian Kashif Ashfaq, Chairman Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) said that US was the largest trade partner of Pakistan, says a press release issued here.
"We look forward to expanding this relationship for the mutual interest of both countries," he added.
He said the efforts of Prime Minister Imran Khan re creditable as these would bring the two countries closer and first time United States had acknowledged Pakistan’s positive role in the peace talks in neighboring Afghanistan.
He said that meeting between PM Imran Khan and the US President Donald Trump would pave the way for peace and stability in the region.
He said that Pakistan under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan was committed to facilitating foreign investors and efforts were already under way to make incremental improvement in the ease of doing business in the country.
He further said the fruitful results of Imran Khan’s visit to US started surfacing as many US companies were showing keen interest to explore Pakistan for investment and joint ventures.
He said after launching successful diplomatic efforts of the incumbent government, US wanted to enhance trade with Pakistan as Pakistan was a potential market for high quality US products.
Mian Kashif, who is also Chief Executive Pakistan Furniture Council (PFC), expressed hope that furniture sector would also exploit this opportunity to expand its export volume which would help the country to reduce trade deficit.
“Only the US furniture demand at the manufacturers’ level is forecast to reach $59 billion in 2021,” adding he said, the opportunity was huge, but the sector needed a large number of skilled workers to meet rising demand. FIEDMC Chief Operating Officer was also present on the occasion.
He further said similarly FIEDMC offered special incentive packages to those local and foreign investors who were interested to pump investment in Allama Iqbal Industrial City.
He expressed the hope that international investors would take advantage of the conducive business environment in the country especially, in FIEDMC which promised economic opportunities galore. He said that owing to economic stability and successful fight against terrorism and extremism, the narrative about Pakistan was changing fast.
“All industries within the export processing zone will be exempted from tax for a period of 10 years and plants, machinery, raw material and other equipment will be imported duty-free,” he added. He said FIEDMC was not only facilitating big and giant textile millers, but also coming up with the project for the benefit and promotion of small and medium businesses.
"The project is very lucrative and will help strengthen the national economy, Mian Kashif said, adding Pakistan was a market of 200 million consumers that was a big consumer market for the international manufacturers operating in the country and the potential of foreign investment in Pakistan in the next eight to ten years was enormous.
"Improved law and order in Pakistan is one of the major reasons motivating foreign investors to come here for new investment and expansion in their existing projects," he remarked.
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