National Assembly body approves draft of Foreign Investment Amendment Bill 2005

National Assembly Standing Committee on Privatisation on Saturday approved the draft of the Foreign Private Investment (Promotion and Protection) Amendment Bill, 2005. The bill was referred to the committee headed by MNA Syed Muhammad Asghar Shah by the National Assembly for consideration. While opening the discussions on the proposed bill, Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh Minister for Privatisation and Investment informed the committee of the primary objective of the amendments. The proposed bill is to safeguard the investments of foreign investors.
Whereby disputes if any pertaining to the foreign investment, investors will be adjudicated by High Court within six months. All the pending cases with the lower courts will also transfer to high court after the enactment by Parliament. Thus the proposed bill would strengthen the confidence of foreign investors and would be helpful in promoting foreign investment in the country.
After intense deliberations, committee approved the proposed bill. However, MNA Ms Gul-e-Farkhanda opposed the bill and recorded her note of dissent. The bill will now be presented to National Assembly for passage.
Dr Hafeez Shaikh, MNAs Fauzia Wahab, Chaudhry Haroon Qasir, Gul-e-Farkhanda, Nayyar Sultana, Dewan Syed Jafar Hussain, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Qari Muhammad Yousaf and Maulana Asadullah attended the meeting.