The Pakistan-Turkey Investment Round Table was organized by the Board of Investment (BoI) held on Thursday at a local hotel during the two-day official visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to Pakistan. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also graced the investment round table. The investment round table was attended by President & CEO's of different 30 multinational Pakistani business circles and around 20 prominent business delegation from Turkey.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Khawaja Asif, and Minister for Water & Power also participated in the investment round table. Dr Miftah Ismail, MOS / Chairman, BOI welcomed the President of Turkey and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and business circles from Turkey & Pakistan in the investment round table and highlighted that Pakistan is offering a very liberal investment regime in the region with diverse and business friendly incentives.
He informed the participants that under the dynamic leadership of our Prime Minister and our finance minister Pakistan's economic outlook has altogether changed in the last three years, a fact which is now being globally acknowledged. Dr Ismail said that due to sound economic policies & reforms our budget deficit has come down from 8.8 percent of GDP when we took over to 4.6 percent and is expected to decrease to only 3.8 percent in the current fiscal year.
He said that our inflation is down to less than 3 percent, our interest rates are the lowest in decades, our currency is stable against international currencies and our forex reserves today have increased to around $24 billion from a low of $7 billion soon after we took over the responsibility of government.
The government of Pakistan has also approved Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Act, offering lucrative investment incentives. Under this initiative, we offer exemption from custom duties and taxes for all plants & machinery imported into Pakistan as well as an income tax holiday for 10 years. On this occasion he invited the Turkish investors to invest in all sectors of Pakistan specifically in agriculture machinery pharmaceutical, mining, and to further boost the investment & trade relations between the two brotherly countries which are beneficial, for both the friendly countries.
Addressing the occasion Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that, it gives me immense pleasure to address this important gathering and welcome you all on the occasion of Pakistan Turkey Business Round Table 2016. I would especially like to welcome my brother Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkey and the members of the Turkish delegation.
He said the Government is fully cognisant of the challenges posed by the changing international economic environment. We are determined to meet these challenges head on and are doing all that is required. Prime Minister inform the gathering that government have also started importing LNG and we are setting up more LNG import terminals in the private sector including one by our Turkish friends, and we are also laying gas pipelines to convey more natural gas and by July of next year Pakistan will be in a position to triple the import from the current 3 million tons per annum.
The President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, address the Pakistan-Turkey Investment Round Table and thanked the government and people of Pakistan for such hospitality. He said that China Pakistan Economic Corridor is a game changer for the region.
He urges the Turkish businessmen to invest in CPEC projects of Pakistan. Erdogan said that Pakistan and Turkey were not brotherly countries only in expression but also in reality. He praised the support given by the people of Pakistan to the Turkish nation.-PR
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.