President woos foreign investors to Pakistan citing incentives, flexible policies

KARACHI: President Mamnoon Hussain, while recounting the incentives and flexible policies announced by the government, on Friday wooed the foreign investors to bring their capital to Pakistan which was being predicted as the world’s 18th largest economy by 2050.

Addressing the distribution ceremony of “6th FPCCI’s Achievement Awards” here, the president said the foreign investors could invest in Pakistan on the basis of 100 percent ownership and could also repatriate profits without any unnecessary impediment.

The ceremony was attended by Chief Minister Sindh Fazlur Rehman, Governor Muhammad Zubair, President FPCCI Ghazanfar Bilour, Former CEO, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan  S.M. Muneer, SVP, SAARC CCI Iftikhar Ali Malik and industrialist and traders.

The president said the incentives and flexible policies for investment had made Pakistan the most attractive country for foreign and domestic investment in the region.

Similarly, he said there had been increase in the facilities such as loans on minimum interest rates and special incentives for the import of machinery and raw material had been made available for the business community.

He observed that the awards ceremony had now become an excellent tradition to acknowledge the services of eminent personalities in the economic and social fields.

Congratulating the awards recipients and the organisers of this event, the president hoped for the continuation of the tradition.

He believed that such events provided an excellent opportunity to bring forward new ideas and explore new avenues to strengthen the national economy.

President Mamnoon expressed his pleasure over the leading role of business and industrialist community in the economic development of the country which remained steadfast despite unfavourable circumstances.

He said the country was going through the election process these days and hoped that the phase would be completed smoothly and the new government would continue the process of development in the same way.

He said consequent to the government’s efforts, the economy, especially the industrial sector, was growing at a fast pace due to far-reaching and practical steps by the government in the fields of energy and infrastructure.

He said the strong economic policies had yielded positive results which were evident from the economic indicators and growth of the private sector.

The president said "in order to make Pakistan world’s 18th largest economy by 2050, we would have to work hard and our business community will have to play a proactive role in this regard."

Appreciating the business fraternity’s efforts to promote non-traditional trade, he stressed for enhancing the export of value added products.

He urged the FPCCI to keep an eye on the emerging opportunities in the world especially in their own region to achieve country’s betterment and economic stability.

In this regard, China Pakistan Economic Corridor is becoming the centre of attention for the entire world, he said and urged the FPCCI and its member associations to formulate a comprehensive strategy to reap maximum benefit from the openings emerging in the region.

The president emphasized that the business community should further strengthen ties not only with the current trade partners, but also explore new markets. Central Asian, African and Middle Eastern economies are of vital significance in this context, he added.

He hoped that the FPCCI and other organizations would provide guidance to Pakistani businessmen, traders and industrialists to increase the exports of Pakistani products in these regions and attract the foreign investors to our country.