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| 28 October 2004 | Thursday | 13 Ramazan 1425 |
Privatization to encourage investment: PM
ISLAMABAD, Oct 27: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said the government has to play the role of a facilitator and regulator to provide an enabling environment to the entrepreneurs to invest and do business.
The prime minister was discussing the target and goals of the ministry of privatization and investment in a meeting here on Wednesday.
While reviewing the target, he said privatization was an important part of the economic agenda of the government. The government does not do business, it rather facilitates business in the private sector, he adds.
The prime minister said the Privatization Commission had a heavy agenda for the current financial year. A number of state-owned enterprises are being offered for privatization. Companies like Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO), Pak Arab Fertilizer, Career Telephone Industries and Kot Addu Power Company (Kapco) are being offered for sale to the private sector.
He said the privatization process would not only generate economic activity, it would also encourage more investment.
The prime minister asked the minister of state for investment to do restructuring of the Board of Investment to make it a vibrant and investment-friendly organization. The board should also encourage and facilitate the local private sector entrepreneurs to bring in foreign investors by joining them in joint ventures.
The BoI, he said, should do research on exploring opportunities for investment in different sectors of the local market and then focus on procuring local or foreign investment in the required sectors.
The prime minister said there was a need to upgrade the capacity of Board of Investment. The board should also provide assistance and support to other ministries and organizations for fetching investment in their respective fields.
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