WASHINGTON, Jul 12 (APP):The United States Tuesday welcomed the staff-level agreement between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) designed to stabilize the South Asian country’s economy from recent external shocks, saying Washington would continue to support Islamabad through the process.

“Our support for the country’s economic success is unwavering,” State Department Spokesperson Mathew Miller said when asked at his daily press briefing whether the U.S. had played a key role in securing the $3 billion IMF package for Pakistan.

“We will continue to engage with Pakistan through technical engagements and continue to strengthen our trade and investment ties, all of which are priorities for our bilateral relationship,” Miller told the correspondent of a private Pakistani television channel.

“We believe Pakistan has a lot of hard work ahead to be on a long-term sustainable path to economic recovery and prosperity but we will continue to stand by them through that process,” he added.

Asked about a recent interview of Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Hina Rabbani Khar, in which she said that Islamabad had no appetite to pick a side amid the growing global rivalry between Washington and Beijing, the spokesperson said that the US does not ask nations to make such a choice.

In the interview with POLITICO, an American news website, Ms. Khar insisted, however, that Islamabad was worried about the repercussions of an all-out rupture between the U.S. and China, which would present Pakistan with an unpalatably binary strategic choice. “We are highly threatened by this notion of splitting the world into two blocs,” she said. “We are very concerned about this decoupling … Anything that splits the world further.”

In his response to the question, the State Department spokesperson said, “The United States does not ask Pakistan or any other country to choose between the United States and the PRC (People’s Republic of China) or to choose between the United States and any other country.

“Our relations with Pakistan build on our close People to People ties and we will continue to seek ways to expand our partnership and economic ties, He said.

“Our economic cooperation with Pakistan reflects our vision for the region, as one comprised of nations that are independent, strong and prosperous, and our relationships are based on a spirit of respect and partnership.”

BEIJING, July 11 (APP): Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday said that Pakistan offers very attractive investment incentives and welcomes all investors especially Chinese businessmen to invest in Information Technology, agriculture, dairy farming, housing, mining and manufacturing sectors.

The present government has taken several steps to put the country’s economy back on track and look forward to a period of growth, he said while addressing the participants of the Pakistan China Business Forum titled Exploring Trade and Investment Opportunities in Pakistan.

The forum was organized by the Embassy of Pakistan and supported by the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Habib Bank Limited (HBL).

He said that a special investment facilitation council has been set up to facilitate foreign investors and added, it is a one-window organization which has members from the federal government and provincial governments.

Prof Ahsan Iqbal said that the government offers a great advantage in cost of production for those Chinese enterprises, which are looking at relocation to countries with low cost of production.

We have over two 30 million population with two-thirds of the population less than 35 years old. So, a very young population, which has technical skills and education to provide support to those Chinese businesses which want to invest overseas to make more profits, he added.

The minister said that there was a big opportunity for the Chinese big real estate companies to come and invest in Pakistan and develop housing projects on a public-private partnership basis.

He said that there was also a good opportunity for many companies to develop manufacturing facilities in Pakistan to export to third countries.

Many companies are also relocating to third countries to have better access to European markets and to United States markets. Through joint ventures in Pakistan, the Chinese company could export their products to third countries.

He said that Pakistan was among the top 10 producers in agriculture production but our yield and productivity were very low. So, we need technology and help to improve the productivity of our agricultural production by having high-quality seeds and better genetics etc.

Prof Ahsan Iqbal said that to develop a higher variety of animals which can give more milk. So, we can double the milk production. And we can increase the production of wheat, cotton sugarcane and every crop if we can improve the seed.

He said that through mechanization, Pakistan can also increase agricultural production.

The government is actively trying to promote renewable energy and solar energy and will welcome investments in Pakistan to increase solar energy production.

He informed the investors about great opportunities in the mining sector. Pakistan is rich in minerals, but we have not yet exploited 5% of the potential.

He said that there are huge deposits of marble all over the country and by investing in new technology, Pakistan can meet the global demand for marble.

Similarly, in the IT sector, we are encouraging investments because Pakistan has a young IT workforce. Huawei recently shifted its data research centre to Pakistan.

So, the IT sector of China and big tech companies can take advantage of very economical IT resource which exists in Pakistan, he added.

Terming the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a new dimension of the economic relationship between the two friendly countries, he said that during the last 10 years, there are projects over $25 billion worth have been executed in Pakistan to help Pakistan build its energy infrastructure.

The projects include infrastructure development, power generation units and Gwadar port, he added.
He said that the CPEC project was not only beneficial for the future of Pakistan but it also for the future of the region and for the future of China.

Welcoming the distinguished guests, Commercial Counselor, Ghulam Qadir briefed them about the recent development in Pakistan particularly the government’s steps to attract foreign direct investment in the country.

He asked the Chinese investors to take advantage of attractive policies and invest in various sectors and set up industrial units in the special economic zones.

He informed that Chinese companies could export their products back to China and to third countries and take advantage of incentives in this regard.

Ghulam Qadir said that Gwadar port enjoys a complete tax holiday for 23 years and exemption from customs duty for 40 years on the import of equipment and material for the construction and operation of free zones.

Vice President and Chief Representative of National Bank of Pakistan, Sheikh Muhammad Shariq briefed the audience about the role of his bank to facilitate Chinese companies which intend to do business in Pakistan.

Ms Cheng Wei, County Manager of Habib Bank Limited also spoke on the occasion and informed the participant about different facilities offered by her bank to the potential investors.

APP/asg