LONDON, Feb 21: A joint Pakistan-City of London conference is being proposed to be held here some time after summer to highlight investment opportunities in Pakistan, Lord Mayor John Stuttard, who recently returned from a visit to Pakistan, announced here on Wednesday.
The Lord Mayor, who was speaking at a press conference, said he has brought with him a long list of mutually-agreed action programmes, including cooperation between the two countries in financial sector education in subjects like accountancy, law, dispute settlement, insurance, arbitration and in developing new financial instruments, including Islamic financial products.
The Lord Mayor said members of his delegation had also explored possibility of raising equity and debt finance, and cooperation in water management, renewable energy sources and climate change.
He said he had gone to Pakistan to revive the UK’s historical economic and financial links with that country, to take a look at what is happening in Pakistan’s economic and financial sectors and to talk about British financial sector’s expertise and its ability to provide assistance in these fields.
He said he was impressed by what he saw, “Pakistan’s strong economic growth and openness to foreign investment is drawing in many international firms and UK-Pakistan trade has tripled in the last three years.”
He said Pakistan’s strong six-plus per cent growth rates and liberalising economic reforms made it an attractive place for foreign investors, many backed by capital raised in the City of London, “the country was well positioned to take advantage of regional growth and Pakistanis from across the globe could take advantage of that.”
He said he totally disagreed with the image the international media has been projecting about Pakistan, “Yes, there are problems linked to Afghanistan, Balochistan, the NWFP, and the suicide bombings, but that is not the full story but the media has tended to focus mainly on these issues making it look as if Pakistan is in continuous turmoil.”
“But this is not so. There is relative political stability in Pakistan, its economy is growing at a fast pace and it has become a very attractive place for investment,” he added.
He said during his visit to Pakistan he met the Prime Minister, a number of his cabinet ministers, including the ministers of higher education and water and power, the representatives of the Karachi Stock Exchange, the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Mr. Salman Shah, advisor to the PM on finance.
Answering a question, he said no agreements or MoUs were signed during his stay in Pakistan because “it was actually a visit to exchange views and gather information.”