ISLAMABAD, Feb 11: The government is expecting to have roughly $500 million foreign investment in Pakistan during the current financial year due to what is being termed changed favourable international environment.
“According to our latest projections there will also be roughly $800 million and $1.5 billion foreign investment in 2002-2003 and 2003-2004, respectively,” said Chairman, Board of Investment, Wasim Haqqie.
Speaking at a news conference along with Secretary Commerce Dr. Akram Sheikh here on Monday, he said that September 11 events had swiftly changed Pakistan’s perception in the outside world, which was helping to secure substantial foreign investment in the country.
He expressed the hope that President Pervez Musharraf’s visit to the United States will greatly contribute in increasing the US investment. A number of areas, he pointed out, had been identified for the new US investment, which also included oil and gas, information technology, financial infrastructure, regulatory infrastructure and physical infrastructure.
Haqqie said the US government was reallocating its resources during 2002 and Pakistan was expecting a good share out of it. During 2000, there was just $92.7 million US investment in Pakistan compared to India’s $1.2 billion.
China & Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Egypt, Nigeria, Turkey, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore had $32.8 billion, $9.4 billion, $7.7 billion, $7 billion, $2.7 billion, $1.2 billion, $1.3 billion, $11.6 billion, $2.9 billion, $5.9 billion and $23.2 billion US investment, respectively, during 2000.
“But we have been given to understand that Pakistan will have fairly a good share of investment in 2002,” he said, adding the government has done its homework to largely facilitate the US investment in Pakistan in the coming years.
He said the President would be meeting the senior executives of top US companies with a view to help attract their investment in Pakistan. In this regard, he said, the representatives of those US companies, which were already operating in Pakistan, would also be meeting the President.
The BoI chairman said that a number of US new companies had responded positively to invest in Pakistan. They included Wall Mart, K-Mart, Sara Lee, Levi’s, Target, Gap, Russel Corporation, White Steven, Tee Jays, Kohl, Jessy Penny, Ken Wood, Sears, Timber Land and Broder Bros.
The President, he said, would be having a separate meeting with the people dealing in textiles in the United States.
Pakistan, he said, would also benefit from reconstruction activities in Afghanistan as a number of foreign companies had expressed their willingness to start their projects with the help of private sector of Pakistan.
In this respect, he referred to an international conference being organized in Karachi on February 17-18, which will be participated by 80 representatives of 15 countries. Besides, representatives of 400 local companies will also be taking part in the conference. “We are expecting joint ventures with the US, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Turkey and UAE companies for the reconstruction of Afghanistan,” he added.
Major areas, which required reconstruction in Afghanistan, he said, were roads, small dams, housing, IT, bridges and small and medium enterprises.
Moreover, the BoI chief said that representatives of US Exim Bank, Overseas Private Insurance Corporation (OPIC) and US Trade Department were also arriving in Pakistan this month to help ensure maximum US investment in the country.
Responding to a question, Haqqie said that foreign investment worth $205 million had already arrived during the first six months of 2001-2002. Last year, he said, Pakistan received $322 million foreign investment.
Basic thrust of the government, he said, was to improve marketing strategies with a view to attracting foreign investment.
The role of BoI, he said, had been expanded as it was also ensuring to provide maximum facilities to the domestic investors.
He told a reporter that 15 to 22 per cent annual growth was being expected from the exports of surgical instrument, sports goods, fan industry and furniture.
To a question, he agreed that there were still bureaucratic hurdles, which needed to be removed to encourage local and foreign investment.