Ambassador Jilani vows to facilitate US investors in Pakistan; emphasizes trade access

WASHINGTON: Pakistan's ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani has assured American entrepreneurs of Islamabad's commitment to facilitating investment in wide-ranging areas as he listed a host of positive indicators bolstering business prospects in the country.

In his first interaction with Washington-based Pakistan-US Business Council since assuming office this month, Ambassador Jilani also underscored the importance of preferential trade access for Pakistani products to the US market and sought the organization's support toward that end.

"The relationship between the two sides has shown improvement and the message Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took back from his meeting with President Obama (in October 2013) was that of close partnership between the two countries," Jilani said at the US Chamber of Commerce, where chairman of the Council Miles Young warmly welcomed the seasoned Pakistani diplomat.

Jilani referred to longstanding Pakistan-US cooperation in defence, economic, trade and other areas and said his country is grateful for the American assistance, particularly recently in the energy sector, where Washington's support has helped add 1200 MWs of electricity to the national system.

He told the American business leaders that the governments is fully focused on overcoming security challenges in the country, and at the same time it has taken significant steps to stimulate economic growth.

As a result of some key reforms introduced by Prime Minister Sharif's government, the country has recorded a five percent GDP growth rate in the last quarter, mitigated lingering power shortages by adding 1700 MW of electricity to the system, and improved tax to GDP ratio by 17 percent.

Besides, conclusion of an extended IMF program, increased foreign direct investment inflows, rationalization of tariff structure and Transparency International's recent recognition of the government's governance drive also indicate progress towards a sustained momentum, he remarked.

"The international investor confidence in Pakistan has grown, and as representative of my country here it is my foremost duty to facilitate investment into many potential areas, therefore I will always be available to you," he said.

On expanding trade relations, Ambassador Jilani apprised the Council members of the GSP Plus program the European Union recently endorsed for Pakistan to spur its exports to the region, and said he would devote effort to realize a similar US preferential programme for his country.

"The prime minister (Sharif) has a clear-cut emphasis to push further the trade relations between our two countries, and the biggest help the US can do is by granting (preferential) trade access for Pakistani products," Jilani noted.

He explained that a jump in Pakistani exports will generate new jobs and also help greatly in curbing extremism through employment opportunities for youth.

A vibrant economic base in Pakistan will also have a positive impact on Afghanistan, he argued, noting this would be in accordance with the US and Pakistani shared objective of a peaceful and stable Afghanistan.

He also spoke of Pakistan's vision to develop regional trade and transport corridors stretching up to Central Asia and Turkey and said Islamabad trade links with both neighbours Afghanistan and India are already growing.

In his remarks, chairman of the Council Miles Young said the members had a good meeting with Prime Minister Sharif during his visit for White House talks and noted that improving investment and commercial links is an important mission of the body.

"Overall, our members remain positive about the mission, we engage both on the US and Pakistani sides as both the governments seek to broaden the partnership, we have strong support for US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue," he said. He looked forward to working with Ambassador Jilani, who brings years of diplomatic experience to the position.

The meeting was attended by representatives of several large American companies including Coca Cola and Boeing as well as senior diplomats of the Pakistani embassy.