According to Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), Pakistan is rated as the top Asian country for Japanese companies for expected profits in 2018, plans for expansion of operations and hiring of the local labour force.

Minister of State and Chairman, Board of Investment (BOI), Naeem Y Zamindar, met Kazuyuki Yamazaki, Senior Deputy Foreign Minister of Japan. Matters of mutual interest came under discussion.

Chairman BOI informed Yamazaki that Pakistan is aiming for a 9 per cent economic growth rate by 2020 and there was a general consensus across the political spectrum in Pakistan on achieving sustained economic growth. He also echoed Price Waterhouse Coopers projection that Pakistan will be joining G-20 by 2030.

Yamazaki said that Pakistan-Japan relations have a long history. He remarked that given Pakistan’s low labour cost and large and young population, it represents an attractive environment for Japanese investors. He underscored that there was potential for mutual cooperation between Japan and Pakistan. It was agreed that the forthcoming High Level Economic Policy Dialogue provides a good platform to continue the conversation on how to realise this potential.

Minister of State also met with Yasushi Akahoshi, President of Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO). Akahoshi apprised him of JETRO’s activities in promoting trade and investment cooperation between Japan and Pakistan and presented the results of JETRO survey of Japanese companies in Asia released this month.

In the survey, Pakistan was rated at the top in Asia by Japanese companies for expected profits in 2018, plans for expansion of operations and hiring of the local labour force. These results indicate high confidence of Japanese companies’ in future economic prospects of Pakistan and quality of labour force.

In a meeting with the Minister of State, Teruo Asada, Chairman of Pakistan Japan Bossiness Cooperation Committee and Chairman of Marubeni Corporation stressed the importance of continuing high-level engagement between the governments and businesses of the two countries and discussed the scheduling of the next round of Joint Government Business Dialogue later this year.

Earlier, Keiichiro Nakazawa, Director General South Asia of JICA also called on Chairman BOI. Senior management of Mitsui Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation also met with the Chairman BOI to discuss the possibility of developing new project investment in Pakistan.

This article originally appeared on ProPakistani and has been reproduced with permission.