June 30, 2006	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 3, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, June 29: The government on Thursday eased the country’s visa policy to facilitate tourists and foreign investors, a source in the interior ministry told Dawn. The source said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had approved the revised visa policy in a meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.

The policy has been revised by the interior ministry after two-and-a-half years of consultation with the ministry of tourism and the Board of Investment.

“The basic idea to revise the visa policy is to attract foreign investment and boost tourism in the country,” the source said.

The revised policy will be unveiled by Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao in a press conference to be held in the Press Information Department (PID) on Friday.

Under the revised policy, the procedure of issuance of Pakistani visas for foreign investors and tourists has become easier and their duration of legal stay has been extended, the source said.

He said wide-ranging measures will be taken in the revised policy to facilitate tourists.

The meeting was attended by Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, Federal Minister for Tourism Nelofar Bakhtiar, Secretary Interior Syed Kamal Shah, Additional Secretary Interior Qamar Zaman and senior officials of the Board of Investment (BoI).

MEETING POSTPONED: A briefing in which the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was to present its annual report about human trafficking in Pakistan before the prime minister could not be held due to a lengthy meeting on visa policy.

No new date has so far been given for the FIA’s briefing.

Sources from the FIA said the report covered major human trafficking cases that took place last year and the FIA’s efforts to curb the menace.

The report will be presented by FIA’s Director General Tariq Pervez.