March 05, 2007	Monday	Safar 15, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, March 4: Over 200 Pakistani expatriates from 35 countries will attend a two-day Overseas Pakistanis Investment Conference which opens here today.

An official said a proposal to establish special industrial zones for them in various areas of the country will be discussed during the conference.

He said the Overseas Pakistanis attending the conference will also be invited to take part in the ongoing privatisation process, and added that maximum facilities will be provided to all intending investors.

He said Overseas Pakistanis living in different parts of the world, including the UK, US, Europe, the Middle East and the Far East, are keen to invest in Pakistan due to the favourable policies of the government.

He said the government had asked expatriates to inform it about their projects of interest, area of expertise, and volume of potential investment. He said so far investment offers of around $3,000 million had been received from Overseas Pakistanis.

He said a plan was being finalised to increase the volume of Overseas Pakistanis’ remittances up to $10 billion from the existing $4.5 billion per annum.

Remittances from Overseas Pakistanis will increase to over $5 billion in the current fiscal year against $4.62 billion last year. Last year the remittances were $4.62 billion, almost a quarter of last year’s exports of $16 billion. In the year 1999-2000, the remittances were less than $1 billion.

About 7.5 million Overseas Pakistanis live in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and the Far East and in the first six months of the fiscal year they sent $2.6 billion as foreign remittances.