ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: A high-level investors’ delegation of Singapore is arriving here on January 12 for a week-long visit to Pakistan to promote trade and economic relations between the two countries.

The delegation, comprising 25 top businessmen and investors of Singapore, would be staying in Pakistan till January 17 to explore opportunities for increased cooperation with their Pakistani counterparts.

Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, economic adviser, ministry of finance, told Dawn here on Monday that businessmen and investors were coming to Pakistan as a result of a “highly successful” investors conference arranged by Pakistan’s high commissioner to Singapore, Moeez Bukhari.

He said he was now expecting a substantial new investment from Singapore, beside the improvement of trade and economic relations between the two countries.

He said he and Board of Investment (BoI) chairman Wasim Haqqie had attended the conference in Singapore on December 16, which ultimately proved to be a great success for Pakistan.

“The investors and businessmen from Singapore are visiting Pakistan after a conference on Pakistan, which was attended by 300 prominent multinationals and entrepreneurs, held there,” he added.

He said the image of Pakistan had greatly improved after the conference in Singapore for making new investment and doing other businesses in the country. The participants of the conference, he said, regretted that the international media has distorted Pakistan’s image.

Dr Khan said there was a positive outcome of the conference, which he believed, would help attract new foreign direct investment (FDI) from Singapore.

He said during his stay in Singapore, people were told that Pakistan was now an attractive and safe place for new investment due to better exchange rate, inflation rate and better cost of borrowing capital.

He said a trade centre had been set up in Singapore by the private sector for promoting Pakistani products and held regular exhibitions there.

Responding to a question, the economic adviser said a number of senior representatives of Chamber of Commerce of Industry of Singapore would also be visiting Pakistan as part of the delegation to improve trade and economic relations between the two countries.

To another question, he said Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali had sent him and the BoI chairman to Singapore to attend the conference. “The last minute permission was granted to us to go there and help bring investment in Pakistan and it was a very good gesture by the prime minister,” Dr Khan said.

It was perhaps the first conference, the economic adviser said, which did not cost anything to the national exchequer. “But it brought lot of benefits for Pakistan”, he said.

He urged other Pakistani high commissioners and ambassadors to work like Moeez Bukhari for attracting investment and improving the country’s trade relations with other countries.

“The need of hour is to improve our image in the outside the world and this should be done by our ambassadors to further improve the country’s economic health through joint ventures and better trade relations, specially with important developed and developing countries,” the economic adviser said.