December 18, 2003	Thursday	Shawwal 23, 1424

ISLAMABAD, Dec 17: The chairman, Mobilink and Orascom Telecommunication, Naguib Sawaris in a meeting with Finance Minister, Shaukat Aziz here on Wednesday indicated that his company wanted to invest in real estate, hotel industry and fertilizer plants to increase and diversify investment in Pakistan.

He said that Pakistan was strategically located and offered a transparent, hospitable and hassle-free investment-friendly regime.

The investment of the Mobilink has increased to $500 million and is expected to exceed $700 million by the next year.

He informed the finance minister that Mobilink had more than 1.9 million customers and the number was expected to increase to more than 2.5 million in the coming months.

He offered to increase the investment and assured more revenues to the government if offered matching incentives to expand its business in Pakistan.

Shaukat Aziz appreciated the investment made by Orascom in Pakistan. He assured that government would continue to encourage investors to increase their investment in the country.

He advised Sawaris to set up call centres to diversify his business of telecommunication and offered all assistance and help in setting up business in real estate, hotel industry and fertilizer plant.

The minister said that Pakistan’s economic situation had improved, gross foreign exchange reserves were in the vicinity of $12 billion, exchange rate was stable, stock markets were buoyant and international credit rating had improved.

This in turn had encouraged investors to explore investment opportunities offered by Pakistan in a free investment climate.—APP