Pakistan offers potential investors a robust consumer market: BOI Secretary

Pakistan offers potential investors a robust consumer market: BOI Secretary

ISLAMABAD, Dec 16 (APP):Secretary, Board of Investment (BOI), Fareena Mazhar on Thursday said that Pakistan offered the potential investors a robust consumer market with an ever expanding middle class.

Addressing an online investment seminar organized by the Board of Investment (BOI) in collaboration with the Pakistan Embassy in US, she said its strategic location at the crossroads of South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia and proximity to the Gulf countries, made Pakistan a promising regional hub and an important destination for trade and investment.

The seminar was held to apprise the potential investors and the Pakistani diaspora based in USA on the investment opportunities available in country, said a press release. Elaborating on Pakistan’s investment climate, the BOI secretary shared that country has been introducing bold economic reforms to achieve significant improvement in all sectors of economy.

Moreover, Pakistan’s economy has made significant progress reflecting a blend of stabilization and structural reforms, she added. She said that recent surveys verified that confidence of foreign and local investors had immensely increased due to liberal trade and investment policies of the government.

The secretary said that Pakistan and USA were partners for prosperity and US was among the top five investors in Pakistan for the last two decades.


She expounded that there was great opportunity for further expanding bilateral trade and investment between the two countries and informed the participants about Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) with US which was in place since 2003.


Fareena shared that TIFA especially underscored development of an effective bilateral mechanism between the two countries for encouraging trade and investment liberalization.


Muhammad Azfar Ahsan while informing the participants about Pakistan’s massive investment potential, shared that in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs), distinctive incentives were being offered to the investors for enhancing productivity and reducing cost of doing business with overall objective to accomplish economic and industrial development goals.


He added that it was a great opportunity for prospective investors to invest in the 22 notified SEZs independently or through joint ventures with their Pakistani counterparts and reap benefits from the available incentives thus realizing true potential arising out of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).


Ahsan, while describing BOI’s role, shared that it acted as an interface between international and local investors, public and private sector and works for creating a conducive business environment through policy and strategic interventions.


He further informed the audience about BOI spearheading the “Pakistan Regulatory Modernization Initiative” (PRMI), launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan. Once rolled out, it shall transform the regulatory landscape across all tiers of government and will simplify and automate the regulatory requirements, he added.
He said that this platform had brought together business leaders from an array of potential sectors and he would encourage them to explore new approaches to enhance Pakistan-USA trade and investment relationship.

He hoped that the webinar would prove to be instrumental in exploring new horizons for moving towards enhanced trade and investment linkages and extended BOI’s all-out support and facilitation to potential investors from the USA.

Pakistan’s Ambassador in US Asad Majeed, while expressing satisfaction on the current US-Pakistan relations said that they should further be strengthened by focusing on bilateral trade and investment and capitalizing on areas of mutual cooperation.

He added that Pakistan was replete with investment opportunities and has a lot of potential as an investment destination.

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