ISLAMABAD, June 2: Italian Minister of State for Finance and Economic Affairs Giuseppe Vegas said here on Monday that his country supports Pakistan’s case for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU).

“The new government in Italy will continue collaboration for economic development of Pakistan,” the Italian Minister told Dawn on Monday.

Pakistan’s economy, he said, was performing well and it had a bright future as its GDP had increased and there was a potential to sustain it.

He said while terrorism was a worldwide threat and it might take a decade or more to tackle it, Pakistan was overall a good place to make investment in the Asian region.

He said a number of Italian companies were operating in Pakistan and their number is expected to grow in the days ahead.

Answering a question, Vegas said it was important for Pakistan to overcome food crisis.

He observed that increasing food supplies can provide a solution, and stressed that Pakistan needed to modernise its agriculture for which his country was ready to supply modern agriculture machinery and share its expertise with Pakistan.

Pakistan, he said, had a good potential of olive cultivation and an Italian expert was here to share his expertise in the field.

He said that the Northern Areas, Tribal Areas and Balochistan were most suitable for olive cultivation, the value-addition of which can help generate a lot of revenue.

He said there was an increasing demand of edible oils in Pakistan forcing the government to increase and support national production of edible oil from crops, such as canola, sunflower and soyabean as well as exploring the possibility of sustained production of other kinds, including palm, coconut and olive oils.

He said a latest land suitability work undertaken in the country revealed that as many as 800,000 hectares of land, mainly in Balochistan and the NWFP, would be suitable for cultivating olives.

The Italian Minister said Pakistan also had a great potential of exporting value-added gemstones in the international market.

He said that Italy has already imparted training in gemstone cutting and polishing to 10 graduates of the Karakorum University as master trainers who had started to train other people in the art.

He said Italy also supplied machinery and paid a year’s salary to the master trainers.

He said Italy was also ready to help Pakistan in marketing of gemstones in Europe, if quality product was developed.

He was of the view that Pakistan had a massive potential of attracting investment. Low taxation, less regulations and guarantees that laws concerning investment would not change can make a big change.

He said the government should give certain rights to the domestic as well as foreign investors and assure that no administrative obstacles would be created in the way of investment. He said development of infrastructure is also important to attract investment. He observed that investment in education was important, though it does not produce quick results.