'Pakistan is still a safe country to do business and Malaysians are urged to invest in Pakistan.' The High Commissioner for Pakistan to Malaysia, Lieutenant General Tahir Mahmud Qazi (Retd) stated this in an interview with a renowned Malaysian Journalist, R Ravichandran of Bernama News Agency in Kuala Lumpur.
In an email message, Pakistan High Commission told Business Recorder on Friday that the High Commissioner has assured Malaysian business community and the public in general that no foreign company has quit the country and in fact some international companies were investing in Pakistan at present.
He noted that in the World Bank's 'Doing Business Report 2009,' Pakistan was placed well above major world economies such as China and India in the ranking among 181 economies of the world, describing this as a show of confidence in Pakistan by the world.
Qazi urged Malaysian investors to invest in Pakistan's power and energy and oil and gas sectors, as they possessed huge potential. Another area of interest was construction, where Pakistan with some 162 million people is in need of more than 500,000 new houses annually, he said.
The High Commissioner further said, despite the incidences of bomb blasts and terrorism, the latest being the Marriott Hotel bombing, the overall security situation in the South Asian country was under control. 'Well, this is the time to come and invest. Those who take the initiative, are always the winners. I urge Malaysians businessmen to take the initiative and be among the winners,' he added.
Further, Qazi said that important thing was the will and capability to tackle terrorism and in this context he stressed that Pakistan's armed forces, being one of the best in the world and the government, are capable of overcoming this threat.