Pakistan making efforts for Afghan peace, stability: President Arif Alvi

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday said Pakistan was making sincere efforts for restoration of peace and stability in Afghanistan.Talking to Ambassador-designate to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmed Khan here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, the president said Pakistan had given utmost importance to its relations with Afghanistan and desired its economic development and prosperity. He said a stable and peaceful Afghanistan was not only in the interest of the two neighbouring states, but also the entire region.

He mentioned that Pakistan and Afghanistan were tied with religious and cultural commonalities and stressed the need for promoting their bilateral relations. President Alvi urged upon the ambassador-designate to work for improving ties between the two countries in areas of economy, politics and people-to-people relations.

Meanwhile, President Alvi on Monday said that Pakistan had adopted a very liberal and investment friendly policy and foreign investors needed to benefit from the liberal investment regime.

He said that the investment policy had been designed in a manner to provide a comprehensive framework for creating conducive business environment for foreign investors in the country. The President expressed these views while talking to an Australian delegation, led by Andrew Forrest, founder and Chairman of Fortescue Group, which called on him at Aiwan-e-Sadr.

Highlighting the potential for investment in mineral sector, the president informed the delegation that Pakistan was blessed with a lot of mineral resources and foreign investors were required to capitalise on opportunities in the mineral sector. He further informed that Pakistan had the potential to produce upto 80,000MW of hydro-electricity.

Andrew Forrest informed the president that Fortescue Group was interested to invest in hydel energy and mineral sector. It is worth stating that Fortescue Metals Group Ltd is an Australian iron ore company which has constructed some of the most significant mines in the world.