KARACHI, April 18: President General Pervez Musharraf terming the Nishtar Park blast a sectarian issue has said that he is conscious of the fact that law and order must be improved.

Speaking as chief guest at the annual dinner of the Overseas Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Monday night, he said that Pakistan was the only country having wholesome strategy on confronting terrorism. All the sanctuaries of Al Qaeda had been occupied and they were on the run, he said.

Gen Musharraf told the gathering that he was sure and confident that law and order would be improved by addressing extremism. “We are into the process of societal transformation in Pakistan and have long and short terms strategies to address extremism at its core,” he said.

He pointed out that one should not be misled by all that one read as there was sensationalism and one should understand the realities that existed. “We have qualified manpower available in abundance in the country. Through a legal system investments are now being protected and profitability margin here has increased substantially due to demand and supply gap,” he said.

The president called upon the Overseas Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry to assist the government in projecting the good image of Pakistan so that more investment comes here and the economy of the country becomes buoyant.

He was confident that with OICCI’s patriotic support of Pakistan and the government’s efforts, the country’s economy would keep rising. He pointed out that Pakistan provided the best opportunities for the best investment. He stated that when an investor came to Pakistan he looked at the security of investment and pointed out that never any foreign investor was harmed despite the fact that in the decade of 70s the then government was taking over industries but none of the foreign industrial unit was touched.

Gen Musharraf said that the per capita income in Pakistan had increased from about dollars 430 to probably around dollars 800 this year. Therefore, their purchasing power has increased which pushed up demand-supply gap and as such the profitability increased.

The foreign firms were making a profit between 20 and 60 per cent and in some cases up to 80 per cent. The government had also created an investor-friendly environment. All sectors being open to foreign direct investment (FDI), 100 per cent foreign equity was allowed, he added.

He said there had been an unprecedented inflow of FDI today which increased from a paltry sum of dollars 300 million in 1999-2000 and crossed US$1.5 billion and would reach around US$3 billion this year.

Pointing to the floating of the Euro bonds, Islamic bonds and our bonds in the United States, Pervez Musharraf said that these were massively over-subscribed and this showed the confidence of people around the world in the economy of Pakistan.

“Our exports which were dollars 7.86 billions in 1999-2000 are expected to touch dollars 18 billion this year,” he said and expressed hope that the exports would cross dollars 20 billion mark in 2007.

He informed the gathering that about 50 state owned entities had already been privatised and the government earned more than Rs150 billion. He said the OGDC and PSO were on the anvil of privatisation.

He stated that the government is entering into bilateral arrangements of preferential trade agreements and free trade agreements. We have already entered into early harvesting agreement with China. All these bilateral agreements would give a boost to exports from Pakistan.

Giving a brief overview of the economy, he pointed out that the results of the documentation of economy were visible now. The establishment costs were reduced and the defence expenditure was capped, debt servicing liabilities were cut from US$5 billion to US$2 billion per annum, he added.

The country’s GDP doubled as compared to that of 1999-2000 and it was going to touch above US$120 billion from then US$60 to 65 billion. Last year, the GDP growth was 8.4 per cent. “We are sure to cross seven percent this year,” he said and expressed hope that with consistency of policies, our growth will hopefully remain between seven and eight percent in the coming years.

The Karachi Stock Exchange was also performing well and its index had crossed 12,000, he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan said that Pakistan was a fairly suitable country for foreign investment and lauded the role of OICCI for attracting the FDI.

Earlier in his welcome address, OICCI President Salman Burney praised the strong economic growth that has been attained by Pakistan and talked about the contribution of OICCI towards the country’s economy.

Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad Khan, Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Economic Affairs Dr Salman Shah, were also present on the occasion.—APP