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| April 20, 2006 | Thursday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 21, 1427 |
Government policies restored investors’ confidence: Aziz
ISLAMABAD, April 19: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are strategic partners and the visit of Prince Waleed Bin Talal will further bolster ties in trade and investment.
He was talking to Prince Talal who called on him here on Wednesday.
Mr Aziz said that keeping in view Pakistan’s strategic location, fast growth and investment-friendly policies, a tremendous potential for greater cooperation existed between the two countries in a number of areas, including trade, investment, culture and tourism.
“Investments being made by a person of the stature of Prince Talal in Pakistan are a manifestation of the confidence of investors in the policies and credibility of Pakistan”, the prime minister observed.
Appreciating Saudi Arabia’s assistant in economic development of Pakistan, he said: “Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have stood by each other in challenging times and have an abiding interest in each other’s progress and prosperity”.
Briefing the Saudi prince on the economic recovery of Pakistan over the last six years, he said the reforms agenda of the government was broad-based and multi-facet.
He said the success of economic reforms and consistency of policies and procedures had restored the confidence of investors and investment today was at the record level.
He said the interest taken by Saudi investors in Pakistan’s privatisation programme was encouraging as more Saudi businessmen were looking for opportunities to invest here.
He particularly mentioned investment by the Al-Tuwairiq Group to set up a steel mill in Karachi and Jamiah Holding’s participation in the KESC privatisation.
The prime minister said there was a great investment potential in the country’s hotel industry. In Islamabad, he said, demand for hotel rooms would increase after construction of a new international airport, work on which would begin shortly.
He said steps were being taken to tap the tourism potential of the country within the next two years and convert Islamabad into a convention and tourism hub.
Lahore, on account of its historical importance, had a vast tourism potential. Similarly, Karachi, as the commercial and financial centre, had a lot of business travellers, he said.
Mr Aziz thanked the Saudi government for the prompt medical and financial assistance it had provided to the people of Pakistan affected by the October 8 earthquake.
Referring to recent visits of King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Abdul Bin Aziz Al-Saud, he said both the visits had further strengthened the unique relations enjoyed by the two countries and the visits would be long cherished by the Pakistani people.
Prince Talal, who is one of the richest men of the world, a global investor and philanthropist, said Saudi Arabia considered Pakistan a very special friend.
He discussed with the prime minister plans to make further investments in Pakistan. His company will be investing in two hotels in Islamabad and Lahore.
He commended the reform agenda of the Pakistani government and said that the country under the leadership of President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had made progress.
He said Saudi investors were looking to avenues to start joint ventures in Pakistan. Prince Talal said Saudi Arabia would arrange business conferences in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. The delegations of the two countries would exchange visits ahead of the conferences.
He also invited the prime minister to Saudi Arabia to meet Saudi investors.
He said Saudi investors should take advantage of Pakistan’s growing economy, particularly by investing in the real estate, IT and telecom, tourism, banking, agriculture and services sectors.
Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan and Ambassador of Saudi Arabia in Pakistan Ali S. Awadh Asseri also attended the meeting.
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