Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has said that the province has great potential for foreign investment in the sectors of energy, minerals, tourism and infrastructure development. He, however, clarified that all projects in these and other sectors are awarded on purely competition basis under the rules. Therefore, he added, it was imperative for foreign investors and their facilitators as well to study and understand the relevant rules and laws of the provincial government before entering into any bid process for such projects.
He was talking to the UK and European delegation of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf which called on him at the CM House on Sunday.
Provincial Ministers Shahram Tarakai, Muhammad Atif, Mian Jamshed ud Din and Shah Farman, the Vice Chairman of the KP Board of Investment and Trade (BOIT), Senator Mohsin Aziz, Special Assistants to Chief Minister, Dr Mahr Taj Roghani and Dr Haider Ali, MPA Shaukat Yousafzai and District Nazim, Peshawar, Arbab Asim were also present.
The meeting discussed ways and means for establishing strong and smooth linkages between the local and overseas PTI bodies, interacting with the KP government for attracting foreign investment in an organised manner and highlighting abroad the industrial facilities and incentives offered by the KP government.
Dispelling the impression about bureaucratic hurdles in pursuance and award of projects to foreign investors, the Chief Minister informed that in fact the laws and procedures have been found as major impediment for foreign investors to acquire projects in this province. He said that for this reason the provincial government stresses that the foreigners must be apprised of the laws and procedures which envisage certain requirements for entering into competition process for such investments.
The Chief Minister asked the BOIT and key departments of the provincial government to nominate focal persons to ensure smooth and frequent co-ordination with overseas in a bid to facilitate foreign investors and donors. He also assured them of extending every possible co-ordination for holding a joint workers' convention of the local and the UK and Europe PTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in near future.