ISLAMABAD, April 21: Sixty two manufacturing units of Paper and Paper Board are in operation out of a total of 99.

This was stated by industries and production minister Liaquat Jatoi in reply to a question asked by Rahila Yahiya, a ruling party member, during the ‘question hour’ in the National Assembly on Monday.

In his written reply, the minister stated that the government had offered a number of incentives for setting up new factories as well as for the existing working units.

The incentives include reduction of duties on raw material through tariff rationalization. To protect the local manufacturers, the existing rates of customs duty on intermediate/finished products have also been reduced.

Answering another question asked by Ms Yahiya, the minister said the Pakistani investors, residing in Saudi Arabia and other Middle East states, could invest in Pakistan in their field of choice. However, the government will invite them to invest in the priority sectors, including Oil and Gas, Energy and Power, Information Technology (IT), Agriculture, Tourism and privatization of state-owned enterprizes.

The sectors identified by the government in agriculture include corporate farming, livestock, fisheries, food processing and packaging, grain storage and cool chains.

Similarly, the sectors identified in textile industry include value addition in ginning, spinning, weaving and stitching. In Oil and Gas sector, exploration, production of explored wells, and pipelines are the priority areas.

In Energy and Power, the key sectors include hydel and coal based projects; in IT sector, institutions and telecommunication; in Small Medium Enterprises, leather products, sports goods, surgical equipment, gems, jewellery and carpets; in Tourism, hotels, motels, and resorts’ development; in Education sector, establishment of schools, colleges and universities; and all sectors of economy.