Qatar keen to invest in Pakistan’s energy sector

ISLAMABAD: Qatar is planning to invest in various sectors of Pakistan, especially in energy, trade, and businesses for further strengthening bilateral economic ties between both the countries, said state ambassador Sheikh Sauod bin Abdulrahman bin Faisal Al-Thani on Friday.

The ambassador called on Finance Minister Miftah Ismail at Finance Division to discuss long-standing mutual ties between Pakistan and Qatar.

Speaking on the occasion, Ismail said, “Pakistan is pursuing various reforms for providing greater facilitation to investors and businesses.”

The finance minister also apprised about available lucrative investment opportunities in various sectors of Pakistan. While welcoming investment proposals, he assured the ambassador of full support and cooperation by the government.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Qatar in next week also came under discussion in the meeting.

Meanwhile, minister of State for Finance and Revenue Aisha Ghous Pasha held a meeting with Aideen Gilmore and Rashida Dohad, International Budget Partnership, and Omar Asghar Khan Foundation at Finance Division during the day.

Senior officers from Accountant General Pakistan Revenues (AGPR) and Finance Division attended the meeting, where the state minister was briefed about various parameters of Open Budget Survey (OBS) and Pakistan’s progress on it.

The delegation presented proposals for enhancing Pakistan’s score on OBS. It was shared that the country’s was doing excellent on executive parameters of OBS.

During the meeting, Pasha acknowledged the proposals presented by the delegation and said budgeting process in the country was being made transparent with every passing year.

For greater public participation in budget-making, present government organised pre-budget conference to take the proposals from representatives of all sector of the economy.