ISLAMABAD, Dec 22: A spokesman for the Board of Investment (BoI) has said the Pakistan Trade Centre Singapore would be operative with the dawn of the new year.

A press release issued on Sunday said that arrangements to set up a modern trade centre, duly equipped with the latest business technologies in Singapore, were in the final stage.

Describing the centre as a matching addition to the potent and vibrant markets of the Far East, the spokesman said that the centre would conquer new peaks for the Pakistani trade and business community in the march towards the new century of macro, business and economic warfare.

He said that in order to strengthen and stabilize the trade relations between Pakistan and Singapore, the BoI had recently conducted a conference on “Business Opportunities in Pakistan” in collaboration with the International Trade Institute of Singapore (ITIS) and Singaporean Confederation of Industries (SCI) in Singapore. During the conference, attended by over 300 local and regional businessmen and industrialists, the arrangements about the centre’s immediate operation were reviewed, the spokesman added.

He said that a high level Singaporean trade delegation was scheduled to visit Pakistan from Jan 12 to 17, 2003 and during the course of their deliberations, methods and modalities facilitating bilateral trade between Pakistan and Singapore would be chalked out.

The spokesman said that like EPB centres at Tokyo, Hong Kong, the Pakistan Trade Centre Singapore would broaden the base of the national trade to the unexplored markets in the region.

He also explained that while briefing the business delegates at the conference, the chairman of the BoI had said that the centre would not only operate as a unique model of its nature but also work as a showcase to reflect Pakistanis’ rich business potential and attractive investment climate to the five leading economic markets in the region.

Responding to the matching incentives offered under new Investment Policy of Pakistan (IPP), the press statement said that a leading business tycoon of Singapore, Tan Song Chuan, said that Pakistan offered a safe gateway for the trade routes to Middle East and Central Asia via Afghanistan and the far Asian trade circles would not let the chance go un-availed.

During the conference, the spokesman said that a Singaporean businessman, Steven Ong, was also appointed as Pakistan’s Honorary Counsellor for Investment.