LAHORE: The Punjab government signed 158 memoranda of understanding and investment agreements with foreign companies at the concluding day of the two-day ‘International Seminar on Business Opportunities in Punjab’ here on Saturday.

Only few German, Swiss and British companies and their representatives participated in the seminar as a majority of delegates out of 250 foreigners belonged to China and Turkey.

The provincial chief executive also mentioned in his speech only China and Turkey for bringing more and more investment to Punjab despite the fact that the investment conference was open to all countries. The Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan in general and in Punjab in particular has witnessed decline from Europe, the USA, the UK and other developed countries.

Earlier, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, winding up the seminar, said China and Turkey had already very impressive footprints in Pakistan over decades but this moment of history was a witness to gigantic level of cooperation among three countries.

China, Turkey on the forefront

He said China under the CPEC had already begun to implement work on lot of power projects in Punjab and other parts of Pakistan, while Turkey in the last few years had made very impressive progress between Pakistani and Turkish business houses particularly in Punjab.

“We already have investments in Metro Bus System and Solid Waste Management from Turkey and this is now expanding.”

The CM said: “Unless we come up with thousands of megawatt power plants, darkness will persist in our cities, hospitals and schools. We will also not be able to generate more industrial production and employment unless industry and agriculture is connected.

“We will not be able to defeat terrorism unless employment is generated and poverty is reduced significantly so I urge foreign and Pakistani stakeholders to cash in on these rare opportunities.”

Punjab Finance Minister Dr Ayesha Ghaus Pasha said the major objective of the seminar was to showcase the tremendous potential for investment in Punjab. She claimed that more than 350 businesses, multinationals, foreign investors, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and CEOs from China, Turkey, the UK, Germany, Switzerland besides Pakistan attended the seminar with direct business to business interaction with the Punjab government representatives.

She said 158 MoUs and agreements were signed in industrial development, mines and minerals, housing, communication and works, transport, energy and manufacturing sectors.

She was of the view that the successful IMF programme indicated that the country’s economy was on the path of progress. She hoped the MoUs would lead to more concrete agreements and those delegates who had initiated dialogue during the conference would soon come with concrete proposals.

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong, addressing the concluding session, said the agreements signed during two days were ample proof of ideal investment environment in Punjab. “We see bright future of the development in Punjab as well as in Pakistan. We are glad to see the implementation of the CPEC which is moving ahead smoothly and we want major priority projects completed with good quality and according to time frame,” he said.

He said 148 Chinese companies participated in the seminar that showed the interest and confidence of these companies and entrepreneurs to have further discussions and cooperation with Punjab and Pakistan.

“We shall also see more and more companies to come to Pakistan for investment as China expects very favourable and sound environment to be created in Punjab,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2015

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