Foreign investment in SEZs to be encouraged: Shah Mehmood Qureshi

LAHORE:Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Sunday reaffirmed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s commitment to fully encourage foreign investment in Pakistan and provide all-out assistance to investors especially those interested in pumping money in Special Economic Zones under CPEC.

He expressed these views during a meeting with Chairman Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) Mian Kashif Ashfaq who called on him. Chief Operating Officer FIEDMC Muhammad Aamir Saleemi and other senior officers besides experts were also present on the occasion. The minister said there were vast investment opportunities in Pakistan in the fields of energy, agriculture, health, education and construction for foreign investors.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the government was planning to envisage a comprehensive strategy in wake of coronavirus pandemic especially in context of post-corona era and would initiate economic diplomacy through activating all embassies to apprise foreign investors on lucrative business opportunities in Pakistan. He said first phase of CPEC focused on infrastructure development and energy generation while in second phase industrial cooperation and socio-economic development are our highest priorities. He said the government had set up special economic zones especially prioritised ones and Allama Iqbal Industrial City under CPEC of FIEDMC would help in meeting these objectives.

He appreciated Mian Kashif Ashfaq for accelerating the pace of development projects in Allama Iqbal Industrial City and asked him to seek mutual cooperation from investors of this whole region, especially the landlocked Central Asian countries and Afghanistan, to benefit from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. “CPEC is a game-changer for the entire region and there is no restriction on any country, including the USA, to invest in the special economic zones, being established under CPEC,” added Qureshi. Chairman FIEDMC apprising the foreign minister of Allama Iqbal Industrial City said this sole project would house around 400 industries besides giving employments to 250,000 people. He said approximately Rs450 billion foreign and local investments would be pumped into this project and development project was being carried out on fast track. FIDEMC always provided state-of-the-art facilities to its customers besides resolving their issues through one-window operation on top priority basis. He said the investors’ confidence was being restored after completion of M3 project. He said many European countries were keen to invest in various economic sectors of Pakistan especially in newly-launched state-of-the-art Allama Iqbal Industrial Estate. Kashif Ashfaq said FIEDMC, following the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, was extending maximum facilities and services to businessmen under one roof for ease of doing business in the province.