KARACHI, March 21: Senator Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Investment and Privatization said on Thursday that government gave top priority to job generation.

“The government is working on tax reductions and enlargement of tax base, which would tend to increase revenue and job opportunities in the country,” the Senator was quoted to have told members of the American Business Council (ABC) on Thursday.

A press release of ABC said that Prime Minister’s Adviser informed the businessmen that he was trying to have a commercial court network set up in the country to expeditiously resolve commercial problems.

He said that privatization process of Habib Bank would begin soon.

He expressed the hope that if the conflict between the US and Iraq did not prolong, the upcoming international conference on privatization and investment would be held in Islamabad on schedule on April 19 and 20.

Senator Dr Hafeez Sheikh said that Board of Investment (BOI) was focussing on the policies impacting investment facilitation, and enhancement of country’s image.

He informed ABC members that three task forces had been set up in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad to recommend strategy for promoting investment in the country.

Arshad Nasar, President of ABC in his opening remarks expressed the confidence of American business enterprises in improvement of macroeconomic indicators stabilization. He particularly mentioned that foreign investors were highly encouraged by good governance, law and order, curtailment of smuggling, consistent long term policies, tax reforms, deregulation, privatization, the IPR laws and infrastructure improvement.