ISLAMABAD: Board of Investment (BoI) Chairman Muhammad Azfar Ahsan tendered his resignation to the prime minister after heading the board for five months.
In his resignation to the prime minister, he said, “I offered my resignation so that another colleague may be appointed by the new government. I am very much looking forward to spend more time with my family, focus on my business and carry out other social activities in Pakistan and abroad. Long before I accepted this position, I, as a global outreach professional, had brought more than 3000 foreign nationals to Pakistan from over 45 countries in last 20 years. I will continue to do so at a much bigger scale with renewed passion and vigour”.
On November 2, 2021, Ahsan had been named the new chairman BOI. He was the fourth person appointed to the post and had replaced Atif Bokhari, who had resigned in June due to personal reasons.
Azfar Ahsan appointed BoI chairman
Earlier, officials had anticipated that former chairmen Zubair Gilani and Haroon Sharif were in the running to take over from Bokhari.
Earlier, Haroon Sharif had been appointed as the chairman BoI in September 2018, while Zubair Gilani was given the charge in June 2019.
In his resignation letter, Ahsan said that Pakistan’s foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow is stagnant at $ 3 billion and it has a potential of $ 15 to 20 billion per year. “Though my tenure was short, I never wasted any opportunity to revamp BOI to realize that promise,” he wrote in the letter.
He also suggested more empowerment and resources to the BoI in line with trends followed in regional countries should be granted.
“Under my leadership BoI was successful in instituting 125 regulatory reforms (Asaan Karobar Program).
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Establishment of Pak China Business and Investment Forum, and the signing of framework agreement with China are historical milestones and I also signed the investment strategy to work jointly for investment with Saudi Arabia.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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