The on-going visit of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to the European Union will help remove misperceptions about Pakistan before the powerful block of nations. "Pakistan, being a moderate Islamic state, is playing a major role in the global war against terrorism and trying to bridge the gap between Muslims and the rest of world." The Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Suleman Shah expressed these views while speaking at a PTV programme.
"Germany, France and Great Britain are the leading world economies in the European Union besides other members," he said adding a strong and prosperous Pakistan was in their own interest in the present global conditions.
To a question he said it would be a disadvantage for Pakistan if not included in GSP plus by the European Union because a valuable proportion of country's growth was derived from exports.
He said to achieve the eight per cent growth target, increase in exports was imperative, adding for that purpose Pakistan wanted access to new markets.
The Pakistani delegation, during its EU visit, would of course take that issue with the leadership of the member states.
Unfortunately, the world had very little knowledge about the major economic turn around in Pakistan and the favourable investment environment.
He said the isolated law and order incidents were projected widely by the western media, which confused the foreign investors.
The investors already operating in the country were very satisfied, not only for security situation but also for high rates of returns.
He said the existing direct foreign investment figure of around dollars 1 billion could be doubled and even tripled vis-a-vis macro economic stability and promising investment opportunities in the country.
He said the investors from Middle East and Europe with huge capital wanted to do business and Pakistan could be their best choice in the prevailing conditions.
He said economically strong and prosperous Pakistan was in the best interest of developed nations to eliminate the menace of terrorism from the region as well as from the world.