Turkish cos keen to invest in Allama Iqbal Industrial City

Turkish companies are keen to invest in Allama Iqbal Industrial City, a prioritized special economic zone of Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC).

A Turkish delegation on Tuesday visited the FIEDMC camp office and both sides discussed issues for improvement in various sectors and projects.

According to spokesman, FIEDMC Chairman Mian Kashif Ashfaq gave a briefing to the delegation and apprised them of the investment opportunities and incentive packages being offered to the investors.

He said the cordial relations between Turkey and Pakistan should now be transformed into strong trade and economic ties and believed that both countries have immense potential to complement each other in terms of bilateral trade. "But for this to happen, better connectivity between the private sectors of both countries is needed," he added.

He said that the development work on Special Economic Zones (SEZs) including Allama Iqbal Industrial City of FIEDMC is speedily being done while government was providing attractive incentives to investors for investing in SEZs. He said that it was right time for Turkish investors to explore joint ventures and investment in SEZs in gems and jewelry, pharmaceutical, marble, auto and health sectors.

FIEDMC is extending maximum facilities to the foreign and local manufacturers and providing all services to businessmen under one roof for ease of doing business in the province, he said. All industries within the export processing zone would be exempted from tax for a period of 10 years and plants, machinery, raw material and other equipment would be imported duty-free, he added.

He said that around Rs400 billion foreign and local investments would be injected into various projects, which clearly indicate that investors had reposed complete confidence in the present regime. "Like many other countries, more than 25 Chinese companies had made agreements for investments in the industrial city," he added.

The delegation members said that they wanted to establish business partnerships in automobile, IT, home appliances, education and other fields. They said that Pakistan and Turkey have great potential to enhance cooperation in many areas and stressed that both countries should establish strong linkages between their private sectors to explore all potential areas of mutual cooperation.

They said that their purpose of visiting Pakistan was to study its market and find out local partners. They said that Turkey could cooperate with Pakistan in many fields and hoped that their current visit would be helpful in further improving bilateral trade and economic relations between the two countries.

Meanwhile, the delegation visited different parts of industrial city and expressed their satisfaction over the pace of development of various ongoing projects.