Investment companies of France, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Iran and other countries are keen to invest in special economic zones under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), it is learnt. According to sources, the government has decided to give the task to Foreign Office to take up this issue with China and formulate a policy for investment of other foreign companies under CPEC.
Sources said a high-level meeting was held on Wednesday in the Ministry of Finance to discuss the issue. High officers of Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms, and Ministry of Railways participated in the meeting. The meeting discussed the possibility of investments by countries other than China under CPEC in railways and telecommunications. "It was decided in the meeting that Foreign Office will take up this matter with China to evolve a policy for investment of these countries under CPEC," the sources said.
Board of Investment (BoI) Additional Secretary, Shah Jahan Shah on Tuesday informed the National Assembly Standing Committee that Board of Investment has identified 41 sites for the establishment of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in consultation with all the four provincial governments including Governments of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Secretariat. He further said that Board of Investment has already notified as many as 7 Special Economic Zones so far.
While giving a briefing on the incentives given to local and foreign investors in SEZs the Additional Secretary had pledged that there is no difference between incentives given to local & foreign investors in these zones. The CPEC is a 3,000-kilometer network of roads, railways and pipelines to transport oil and gas from Gwadar Port to Kashgar city, North-western China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.