Pakistan and Switzerland Wednesday while noting the rich potential of their bilateral ties called for exploring new avenues of co-operation for mutual benefits. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed his desire to strengthen relations with Switzerland in a meeting with President of the Swiss Confederation Doris Leuthard here on the sidelines of the 47th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Nawaz Sharif is here to meet world leaders and heads of top corporate companies and share with them the Pakistan success story.
The Prime Minister said he deeply valued relations with Switzerland, which were based on mutual co-operation, amity and trust.
He said Pakistan looked forward to enhancing bilateral partnership in diverse areas, adding Switzerland was a friend and an important trade and investment partner of Pakistan.
The Prime Minister said Switzerland's objective, non-discriminatory and criteria-based approach on NSG membership was commendable. "We hope that as part of the NSG troika, Switzerland would continue to maintain this principled stand, especially when it takes over the Chair of the group later this year."
The Swiss President said her county's stance on NSG was non-discriminatory and based on principles.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan was committed to facilitate and support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process as envisaged under the Quadrilateral framework. "We believe that security of Pakistan is directly linked to peace and stability in Afghanistan," Sharif added.
He said Pakistan had continued to host millions of Afghan refugees for more than three decades. "We are still hosting around 1.5 million refugees and about an equal number of undocumented Afghans."
"We believe that there is a need to create necessary pull-factors inside Afghanistan for sustained repatriation of Afghan refugees".
The Swiss President lauded the role played by Pakistan in giving refuge to over three million Afghan refugees on its soil and said Pakistan should continue to play its role in promoting good relations with Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Sharif said Pakistan wanted peaceful and amicable resolution of all outstanding issues with India.
He also expressed his deep concern over the recent developments in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir and the gross human rights violations by Indian Occupation Forces, particularly after the extrajudicial murder of Burhan Wani, the Prime Minister said.
He said the international community should take notice of the gravity of the situation and urge India to respect human rights of the people of Kashmir and implement the UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.
The Prime Minister appreciated efforts of the Swiss-Asian Chamber of Commerce, Swiss Global Enterprise (SGE) and Swiss Business Council (SBC) for introducing Pakistan to the Swiss business houses, especially the Swiss SMEs.
He also thanked the Swiss government for offering postgraduate scholarships to students from Pakistan at various public universities in Switzerland.
The Swiss President said despite the challenges faced by Pakistan, her government was happy to see fast progress made by the country in economy.
She said Pakistan was progressing on the right track and said she appreciated the economic map being pursued by his government to promote stability in Pakistan and in the region. She said the people of Pakistan and its armed forces had given great sacrifices against terrorism.
The President said the Swiss companies were more than willing to work in Pakistan in such a "positive and enabling" environment.
She said her government was also willing to work with Pakistan in hydro power projects.
Switzerland currently ranks fifth in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Pakistan. It has traditionally run a trade surplus with Pakistan and has been one of the country's biggest direct investors for many years.
Many Swiss companies operate in Pakistan, some with their own production sites. These firms are mainly based in Karachi and employ around 12,000 people.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister also held a meeting with Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Standard Chartered Bank Jose Vinals on the sidelines of the WEF. During the meeting, the PM expressed that Pakistan was the new attractive destination for foreign investors that offered security and attractive returns.
The Prime Minister said Pakistan had made a remarkable recovery and all its economic indicators were positive.
The CEO Standard Chartered Bank said Pakistan was an important partner of Standard Chartered Bank and said the Bank was working with Chinese banks on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
He said his bank was also working on the improvement of the Small and Medium Enterprises.
Jose said the profile of Pakistan had gone up significantly and added the economic matrix was moving in the right direction.
He mentioned that there was lot of positivity in the country and appreciated that the confidence of investors had gone up and country's image had improved with the successful completion of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
He said the SC bank was also happy with the progress made by Pakistan in security and energy sectors. He said Standard Chartered Bank was working in Pakistan for past several decades and was improving its banking products and going in for digitisation.
He said the bank had also improved upon its consumer banking sector. The Prime Minister held a series of back to back meetings with the heads of various other corporations and urged them to expand their operations in the country.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister also met CEO of Procter and Gamble David Taylor on sidelines of the (WEF). The CEO appreciated the conducive business environment in Pakistan and credited the government for improved economy.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif while talking to David Taylor said the Pakistan of today was totally different from the one in past and was an attractive place for business from around the world.
David Taylor said he was very optimist about the country's economy and was appreciative of Prime Minister's personal interest in the improvement of the business environment in the country.
He said there was a lot of conducive environment for the business sector and it was more attractive for foreign investors. He said his company was providing best quality products for its local consumers.
He said keeping in view the government's positive attitude his company was planning to expand operations in the country.