ISLAMABAD, Aug 31: Higher influx of foreign investment in Pakistan is helping the country fight extremism and terrorism, according to President Gen Pervez Musharraf. He was addressing a gathering after the ground-breaking ceremony of Pakistan’s first-ever seven-star $350 million hotel project in Islamabad on Thursday.

President Musharraf said: “Pakistan is pursuing a liberal foreign exchange regime with no limits on remittances and provides a level playing field for foreign and local investors.”

The three-year project is being executed by the Pak Gulf Construction Limited (PGCL), using the services of the UK-based firm Atkins known for its Burj Al Arab project in Dubai.

The president welcomed the Saudi group Al-Tamimi for investing in the hotel’s project and said: “We are grateful to the Al Tamimi group which is helping us fight extremism in this way.”

Pakistan, he said, provided an ideal environment for investment and reiterated that it would be sustained to alleviate poverty through greater economic activity.

Inviting international entrepreneurs to invest more in Pakistan, the President said: “It is the right time to invest in Pakistan.”

“We have opened all sectors of economy for investment and the scourge of red-tapism and bureaucratic delays are being done away with,” he said.

The president warned that he would not tolerate any bottlenecks in the way of investment. “If there is any bottleneck, I will come to the aid of the investor,” he said.

President Musharraf said policies of de-regulation, liberalisation and privatisation had helped bring in more foreign direct investment.

He said Pakistan’s geo-strategic location had made it a hub for regional economic activity.

“The world knows this reality and around 700 foreign companies were in Pakistan which enjoy 20 to 60 per cent profitability, owing to the large demand-supply gap and a large population backed by an educated and highly skilled work force” he said.

The president said whatever was happening in Pakistan was being done in the interest of the nation. “Whether it is relations with some country, diplomatic ties or our attitude towards investment, it is being done in Pakistan’s national interest,” he added.

President of Azad Kashmir Sardar Zulqarnain, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Population and Welfare Minister Chaudhary Shahbaz Hussain and CDA Chairman Kamran Lashari also attended the ceremony.