Located in South Asia with an area of over 800,000 km and with a coast line of 1100 km, Pakistan borders Iran, Afghanistan, China and India and also provides the economic corridor to the newly created States of Central Asia which too is a market of nearly 70 million people. As such, doing business in Pakistan means having possible access to almost 270 Million. Major exports from Pakistan include cotton and textile goods, sea food, rice, leather, sporting and surgical goods, carpets, fruits and vegetables; the collective volume of which is in excess of US $25 Billion annually and with a GDP of over $250 Billion and standing as an economy, at 26thth position in the world in terms of purchasing power parity. More than 500 Multinational Companies (MNC's) are operating in Pakistan and include world icons such as Unilever, Nestle, Zong, GSK, Toyota, Metro, Standard Chartered Bank and the list continues.
Pakistan is blessed with abundant natural resources which, besides ample virgin land, has copper fields, salt ranges, coal mines, gas reserves and the like and consequently has well established industrial base for textiles, cement, fertiliser, steel, sugar, engineering goods, leather and the list continues with industrial units providing value added goods. Information Technology exports from Pakistan is witnessing a 40% growth each year with current export at $2 Billion. The availability of skilled professionals, an appropriate IT infrastructure and affordable rates for connectivity result is making Pakistan a choice destination for a significant number of international companies looking to relocate their operations offshore. English being the official language, many business houses from around the world use call centers in Pakistan for their client linkages being conveniently located at +5 GMT time zone. There are around 500 call centers with expertise in both inbound and outbound calling including technical support and tele-marketing. Amongst its paramount resource is its youth with almost 60% under the age of 30 years. No wonder that World Start-up report, a US based organisation in the Silicon Valley where 12,500 Pakistanis are already employed, while evaluating countries of the region, points to the fact that Pakistan is the most favoured destination for starting new businesses. According to them, Pakistan has 30 million internet users, 135 million Mobile subscriptions, 7 million smart phone users with almost 15 million face book users; all in recent years. According to the World Bank figures, Pakistan stands at the 7th position in respect of foreign investment. Free Trade agreements are in place with Malaysia, China and Sri Lanka while with South Korea is being negotiated and is expected to be soon finalised. In what is termed as Pakistan-China Economic Corridor (PCEC), China has agreed to invest in excess of 45 Billion Dollars for infrastructure improvement and towards which, no less than the President of China himself, visited Pakistan this year to witness the signing of agreements in different sectors which included roads, highways and energy. This single phenomena is being viewed to be the game changer for Pakistan in the days ahead. Besides, businesses in Pakistan can now also eye the Iranian market which after decades of sanctions is opening up having a market base with a population of 80 Million and proven oil reserves of nearly 1.5 Billion barrels; allowing Iran to start trading with the outside world and in return meet its need for the critically needed infrastructure and other requirementsnecessitatingforeign exchange.
According to Goldman Sachs investment bank and economist Jim O'Neill in a research paper has identified Pakistan amongst one of the Next Eleven countries having a high potential of becoming, along with the BRICS, the world's largest economies in the 21st century. Their assumption is based on the promising outlooks for investment and future growth for reasons of economic liberalisation which includes long awaited privatisation of public sector corporations, decrease in budget deficits and gradual increase in foreign currency reserves.
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