ISLAMABAD: Gunvor Group CEO Torbjorn Tornqvist, and Mehmet Celep­oglu, the executive vice president at TotalEnergies for Oceania and Southeast Asia, met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday and discussed potential investment in the country’s energy sector.

During the meeting, the prime minister highlighted that after attaining stability, the national economy was now moving on the path of growth and development.

He said rapid reforms were underway to increase investment and business activities, and economic policies were yielding positive results.

He emphasised that the government was removing all the barriers to foreign investment in Pakistan.

Mr Tornqvist expressed the Gunvor Group’s keen interest in investing in Pakistan’s petroleum sector. The prime minister was told that the Gunvor Group had already signed an agreement to acquire 50 per cent shares of Total Parco.

The prime minister directed the relevant authorities to provide all possible facilities to the Gunvor Group.

The meeting was also attended by federal ministers Ahad Khan Cheema, Dr Musadik Malik, PM’s Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi and other high-ranking officials.

ADB reaffirms support

In a separate development, Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Masatsugu Asakawa, accompanied by his delegation, also met with PM Shehbaz and reaffirmed the bank’s continued support for Pakistan. During the discussions, Mr Asakawa praised the country’s long-standing relationship with the ADB as one of its founding members.

The prime minister informed Mr Asakawa about a series of reforms introduced by the government, including enhancing tax revenues, improving the financial sustainability of the energy sector, enhancing climate resilience, reducing untargeted subsidies and scaling up social protection.

The premier and the ADB president also witnessed the loan signing of the Sindh Emergency Housing Reconstr­uction Project amounting to $400 million and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rural Roads Development Project worth $320m. Both these projects are part of the ADB’s flood commitments.

The federal ministers for planning and development, investment and privatisation, economic affairs and finance and other senior government officials also attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2024