Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Investment, Industries and Textile, Abdul Razak Dawood said that Pakistan would further improve its ranking in Ease of Doing Business with consistent efforts of federal and provincial governments.
Abdul Razak Dawood said this at a joint press conference here on Friday along with Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and Chairman Board of Investment Zubair Gillani, secretary and two senior members of the board.
Dawood said that ranking of a country on Ease of Doing Business Index helped foreign companies take decision of investment in the country. He said that jump in ranking from 147th to 136th and then 108th on the Doing Business 2020 Report is giving a message that Pakistan is on the right track on reforms.
He said the federal government has made a lot of efforts to improve the ranking and it could not be possible without the support of provincial governments of Sindh and Punjab which adopted the measures proposed by the World Bank to simplify the procedures. He said, "It is pressure from the top and efforts from the bottom and a lot of good coordination helped the country to improve the ranking," he said, adding the Prime Minister was regularly holding meetings on the ease of doing business.
The advisor expressed hope that next year ranking would further be improved under the leadership of Chairman Board of Investment Zubair Gillani.
Zubair Gillani said that various Chinese companies showed their interest in relocating Chinese industries to Pakistan, especially after the US-China trade war. He said that a mega tyre company has shown interest in investment in Pakistan. "We succeeded in convincing the Chinese company to invest in Pakistan which wanted to relocate its business from the US to Taiwan," he added.
Later, talking to a private news channel, Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Investment, Industries and Textile Abdul Razak Dawood said that Chinese companies have started locating business centers in different parts of the country. The Chinese companies started construction work in Lahore and Faisalabad to explore business in textile sector. He said that a policy on textile is being formulated and it is in the refining stage. The textile sector has registered an increase of 37 percent, particularly in the garment sector, he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019