The visiting French parliamentary delegation headed by Senator Pascal Allizard will visit Gwadar tomorrow (Friday) to see the projects on ground for exploring opportunities for French companies in the projects under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Speaking at a news conference along with members of the delegation, Senator Allizard said that CPEC has a lot of interest for not only France, but also for other European countries.
He said that his delegation will leave for Karachi today (Thursday) and then to Gwadar on Friday with a view to see the CPEC projects on ground and the opportunities it offers for the French companies for investment. He said that France is looking the CPEC projects very closely and the EU countries also need to look these projects keenly.
He said that they had very fruitful discussions with Pakistani authorities in their meetings, adding that they met with Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani, Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser, Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood and members of the France-Pakistan Inter-Parliamentary Group.
At the Board of Investment, Allizard said that the BOI authorities gave them presentation on the investment opportunities for French companies in various sectors, especially in automobile and dairy.
However, he pointed out that there are certain barriers due to which the French companies are hesitating to invest in Pakistan, adding that security was the major concern which has now considerably been improved. He said that Pakistan also offers a great opportunity of mountain tourism.
However, he said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan and French Ministry of Finance are trying to address the issues with regard to the trade barriers.
Moreover, he said that members of the Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group are also in close contact with each other and there are frequent exchanges to further enhance the bilateral relations and ties between the two parliaments.
He further said that Embassy of Pakistan in Paris in collaboration with French government will soon organise a seminar on Gwadar in Paris in which leading French shipping companies would be invited to explore opportunities for them in Gwadar.