ISLAMABAD, Mar 14 (APP):The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) have launched a one-window facility for company and national tax number (NTN) registration .
A statement issued by the SECP here Wednesday said that the facility was provided as part of doing business reforms agenda.
SECP Chairman Zafar Abdullah and Khawaja Adnan Zahir, Member (IT) FBR, jointly inaugurated the system during the launch ceremony held on Wednesday at the SECP’s head office which was attended by senior officials of SECP, FBR, BOI and PRAL.
Zafar Abdullah congratulated the teams of SECP, FBR and PRAL on putting in exhaustive efforts to develop the system.
The SECP has undertaken a host of reform measures, which have resulted in a robust corporate growth in the country, leading to formalization of the business sector and documentation of economy, he added.
Khawaja Adnan Zahir said that the FBR was pleased to collaborate with SECP to provide conducive environment for doing business in Pakistan.
This is the first instance of government-to-government technical integration at the process level, he added.
“The creation of a cross-institution single process of registration of a company is the first step and the efforts should be continued to include more organizations. A lot more can be achieved if government organization work in such close coordination”, he added.
Ms. Fareena Mazhar, Executive Director General, Board of Investment (BOI) lauded the efforts of the SECP and FBR for their doing business reforms and stressed that these reforms would not only help the local entrepreneurs but would also serve as an attraction for foreign investors.
Through this facility, the entrepreneur will login to the SECP online portal eServices, get the company registered with the SECP and will receive the NTN automatically at company’s email address.
The facility has been launched to simplify procedures for business registration, to eliminate the hassle of visiting various government agencies and to ensure an expeditious service delivery by integrating the registration procedures of SECP and FBR.
This facility would have favourable implications for investment promotion to attract investors from within and outside the country, and contribute to documentation of the economy.
It is also likely to achieve higher ranking in the World Bank’s starting-a-business and the composite doing business indicator.

SIALKOT, Mar 14 (APP)::Ambassador of Spain in Pakistan
Mr Carlos Morales on Wednesday said Spain was much keen to
boost mutual trade ties with Pakistan, pledging to make
efforts to remove hurdles from the way of promoting
the mutual trade between the both countries.
He said this while addressing a meeting held at the
Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) here, the
ambassador said that the time was high to do more for further
increasing mutual trade ties between Pakistan and Spain.
SCCI President Zahid Latif Malik, SVP Abdul Waheed and
VP Abid Ahmed Khawaja presided over the meeting while other senior officials of the Spanish Embassy also attended the meeting.
The ambassador said that the Spain was much keen to
develop strong business-to-business contacts with Pakistan
besides focusing on promoting the SMEs in Pakistan on
modern lines and paving the ways to find out opportunities
to advanced technology transfer to Pakistan from Spain.
Mr Carlos Morales also assured of making all-out
sincere efforts to increase the mutual trade volume
in favour of Pakistan as well.
He said that B2B contacts could help boost the mutual
trade ties between Pakistan and Spain, adding that Spain
was ready to make mutual strenuous efforts for this purpose.
The ambassador invited Sialkot exporters to divert
their business activities to Spain, saying that Sialkot
exporters were much aware of international quality standards
and they also had great potential to explore and capture
international trade markets of Spain and the EU countries
through Spain as well by exporting their diversified traditional
and non-traditional export products.
He said that Spain was the second country in the world
who arranged most trade exhibition and seminars in his country.
The ambassador assured exporters their easy access to
international Spanish trade markets and even the EU trade
markets through Spain as well. He also asked Sialkot exporters
to participate in the international trade fairs and
exhibitions to be held in Spain as well.
SCCI President Zahid Latif Malik said that Sialkot
exporters had a great potential to explore and capture
international trade markets of Spain by exporting their
worldclass traditional and non-traditional export products.
For improving bilateral trade, Sialkot exporters suggested
that exchange of trade delegations and one-to-one meetings
of businessmen of both sides may be arranged, he added.
On this occasion, Sialkot exporters said that Spain had
always been a close partner of Pakistan in terms of
bilateral trade and socio-economic development.
“There is an urgent need for diversification of exports
as Pakistan and Spain have tremendous potential for
business communities at the both sides”, they added.
“We firmly believe that with Spanish technology and Pakistani craftsmanship, we could do wonders in the international
markets”, the exporters hoped.

ISLAMABAD, Mar 14 (APP):Secretary Board of Investment, Samaira Nazir Siddiqui on Wednesday said that Board of Investment (BOI) in consultation with all stakeholders has launched an accelerated Doing Business Plan to ambitiously implement a set of reforms and improve the country’s doing business ranking.
Addressing three-day Capital Investment Summit and Expo 2018, which was organized by Pakistan Guarantee Export Corporation Limited, she said that Pakistan has a more robust economy, supported by government’s commitment, fundamental reforms and can offer a lot to businesses in terms of trade and investment.
Nazir Siddiqui highlighted that Pakistani capital market has been continuously exhibiting exemplary performance over the last few years.
The recent up-gradation of Pakistan from Frontier Markets to Emerging Markets by Morgan Stanley Capital International is an evidence of the turnaround
The market is experiencing increased activity, performance and improved image in the eyes of the global investors.
She also apprised the investors that Pakistan follows a very liberal investment regime, having no restrictions on remittance of profits and full legal protection to investors.
All sectors of the economy are open to foreign investment; foreign investors can hold 100 percent equity, and the business opening process has been extremely easy, she added.
She stated that Special Economic Zone (SEZs) Act 2012 is the capstone of our Investment Policy.
The fiscal benefits under the SEZ law include an exemption from custom duties and tax holidays for a period of ten years.
With regard to Business environment, Secretary, BOI said that the government of Pakistan was cognizant about the fact that the quality of business environment was a critical policy area for governments to derive economic growth, create jobs and encourage private sector competition.