Simon Smits, the Netherlands' Vice Minister for Trade met with the Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar here on Monday, and informed him that Netherlands would like to have a trade and economic partnership with Pakistan and the Dutch companies are keenly interested to expand their businesses in the country.
The Vice Minister is leading a delegation of government and private sector from Netherlands to explore opportunities for investment in Pakistan. He said the investors saw a lot of economic potential in energy, agriculture and infrastructure development projects in Pakistan. The Vice Minister commended all reforms undertaken, so far in Pakistan, to stabilise economic situation which he believed inherited from earlier government. The Vice Minister also offered assistance in flood control, sewage and drainage of water.
The Finance Minister informed the delegation that the government had been very successful in tackling energy and economic issues. He said "due to our pro-active policies, the results are flowing which indicate upward shift in growth rate and other economic indicators are also performing up to our satisfaction." He said "we appreciate Netherlands' support to Pakistan for getting GSP Plus status."
He said the investment from Netherlands would be welcomed and the government would provide all possible assistance and facilitation to the investors, adding "trade is our area of interest and there is a huge potential for hydro carbon exploration companies to invest in this sector." The Vice Minister also informed the Finance Minister that his government was looking forward to the visit of Prime Minister to Hague to attend Nuclear Security Summit from March 24-25. He said it would provide him an opportunity to market Pakistan in the international forum. The meeting was also attended by Secretary Finance Dr Waqar Masood, Secretary Commerce Qasim Mohammad Niaz, Advisor to Finance Ministry, Ministry of Finance.-PR