ISLAMABAD, March 30: Saudi Arabia is expected to make sizable investment in Karachi and other export processing zones (EPZs) of Pakistan in the next few years as a part of its plans to diversify investment channels in different parts of the world.

Sources close to the Minister for Industries and Production, Liaquat Jatoi, told Dawn that a high-level delegation from Jable Ali Free Trade Zone of Saudi Arabia was expected to visit Pakistan from April 21 to 22 to inspect various infrastructure facilities available at the EPZs.

The sources said the Saudis had discussed with Mr Jatoi areas of their interest for setting up industrial units in the export processing zones of Karachi and other cities to benefit from the cheap raw material and labour force available locally for re-export of these products to Saudi Arabia and other markets of the region.

The sources said Ahmad bin Sulayem, the executive chairman of the Jable Ali Free Trade Zone, had informed Liaquat Jatoi in a recent letter that he was dispatching a delegation led by Abdullah Lootah, senior manager of Jable Ali Free Trade Zone to Pakistan on April 21-22.

During the visit, the delegation would be taken to the EPZs in Pakistan and briefed by the officials and industrialists about various facilities, tax holidays and other incentives offered to investors in the free zones.

The officials were attaching high hopes to the visit of the Saudi delegation. They suggest that investment from Saudi Arabia would not only send a positive signal to other regional and friendly countries and give a boost to the plans of developing free industrial zones, it would also provide an opportunity to Pakistan to learn from the experiences of the Jable Ali administration.

Pakistan has recently decided to set up industrial and export processing zones in Karachi, Pindi Bhattian, Lahore and in other cities and offer country specific zones to China, Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, UAE and other countries to set up industries of their own interest for re-export their products back home or to other regional markets.