The government of Pakistan should provide level playing field to all in order to attract direct foreign investment (DFI) and must stop discriminatory attitude towards the overseas Pakistanis who want to invest in Pakistan.
In an interview with the Business Recorder on Thursday, Convenor, Development and Regeneration Services Committee of Glasgow City Council, Councillor Hanzala Malik who is heading an 18-member delegation to Pakistan said: "Overseas Pakistanis only prefer safe investment and that was why they are more interested in the real estate business. Unfortunately, government of Pakistan does not provide them any safety and protection.
Contrary to this fact, multinational companies are enjoying protected profit on their investment as the government provides them sovereign guarantees". These companies like those working in power sector, are earning unusual and unprecedented profits and have freedom to repatriate it to their native countries. If government provides same opportunities and facilities to the expatriate Pakistanis, they would also like to invest in mega projects, he added.
It is true, that some of our countrymen had invested in Pakistan but without any homework and a sheer lack of concentration on business, joining inexperienced partners and it resulted into a failure. Traditional property disputes and absence of a speedy judicial system were also important reasons of their failure. The overseas Pakistanis also lack confidence in the teamwork for business venture in Pakistan.
He criticised Pakistani embassies abroad, which could not perform the duty of promoting the image of the country to attract investment. He urged Pakistan government to issue directions to its diplomatic missions abroad to apprise multinational companies about the country's favourable environment for business and availability of skilled cheaper workforce so that they can be convinced for investing in Pakistan, he maintained.
Malik said that Pakistan's economy was growing at 7-percent besides a visible growth in infrastructure, yet it needed to focus more on wooing investors. There is a tremendous potential in the IT and IT related sectors in Pakistan as Information Technology is being applied in many areas like hospitals, railways, and road transport etc.
He however, expressed his concern over the issues like solid waste, pollution, house waste, inefficient sewerage system, and said the government should take measures to redress such problems, which also hinder foreign investment. Criticising the police attitude towards citizens, he said, "Traffic police always seem to be minting money from the motorcyclists but do not check the donkey carts and trucks loaded with dangerous items and generating pollution problems". He said that there was a need for changing this culture.
About twining Lahore and Glasgow cities, he said, the City Council Glasgow will provide training to fire fighters at its own cost and also invited the police for training. We have already provided two fire-fighting engines to the City District Government Lahore (CDGL) and will provide three more shortly.
We will collaborate in education sector, particularly with the public sector schools and colleges, he maintained. Earlier, addressing the executive committee members of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Malik said that Glasgow being the fastest growing city of the United Kingdom had a huge potential for Pakistani businessmen to have joint ventures with their counterparts there.
He said that the process of globalisation was bringing the people closer and there was a need to learn from the experiences of each other. He said due to Pakistan's economic stability, the Glasgow-based businessmen have decided to visit Pakistan and explore the opportunities of business.
While stressing the need for more interactions between the two sides, Malik urged LCCI office-bearers to arrange a visit to Glasgow and work together with their counterparts to increase the volume of two-way trade. British investment in Pakistan stands at $224.5 million, which is 6-percent of total foreign investment in Pakistan up to the end of fiscal year 2005-06. About 70 British multinationals have invested in various sectors such as food, tobacco, textiles, chemicals, petroleum refining, oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, cement, power, communications and financial services etc.
Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI President Shahid Hassan Sheikh said that Pakistan was particularly keen in British investment that could provide transfer of technology and help it become a knowledge-based economy. "It is the principal gateway to the Central Asian Republics (CARs), Afghanistan and China. Pakistan is the future trade and energy corridor for CARs.
Pakistan is developing Gwadar Deep Sea Port (GDSP) and necessary infrastructure to materialise this vision," he observed. Any investment made in Pakistan will find its market in these countries. He said that exchange of business delegations and holding of single country exhibitions can boost the bilateral trade. These marketing tools need to be studied by the chambers and the diplomatic missions of the two countries.