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US investment in Pakistan needs to be increased in view of deep rooted friendly relations between the two countries. Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh,
Federal Minister for Privatisation & Investment stated this during a meeting
with General (Retd) Anthony C. Zinni who is heading a business delegation from US at Board of Investment today.
Elucidating the salient features of Pakistan economy, the Minister said that as a result of the past three years efforts the
economy was now at a turn around and after eight years Pakistan had an increase of growth rate of over
5 %, which had brought Pakistan to 4th highest among the Asian countries.
He said that our foreign exchange reserves had touched the figure of US $ 11 billion, capital markets were performing
excellently and now Pakistan had become a market oriented country and all areas had been opened up for
foreign investment with no restriction on remittance of capital, profit, royalty, technical fee and no discrimination between the foreign
and local investors.
Giving an overview of the Privatisation Program, Dr. Hafeez Shaikh said that the public sector entities in Oil & Gas sector,
Finance, Banking, Insurance, Electricity, Telecom sectors offered a good range of opportunities. We were
looking for international quality operator for Karachi Electric Supply Company
(KESC) and focusing on the sale of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) as an integrated unit.
Mr. Owais Ahmed Khan Leghari, Federal Minister for Information Technology &
Telecom briefed the US delegation regarding the Deregulation Policy for Telecom sector and
stated that the openness was being envisaged in the policy and different options were being worked out for cellular market.
The leader of US business team General (Retd) Anthony C. Zinni lauded the economic stability of Pakistan and said that
the good news on the economic indicator had made Pakistan more attractive on the investment front. Mr.
Eric Ram, Chairman World Mobile Communication LLC, USA and Fusion Telecommunication International USA said that being a
serious player with capability and desire their companies intended to be pioneer as regard to
investment activity while focusing mobile and telecom sector. US companies were looking forward to interact with Pakistan by creating good risk
reward balance, he added. A Pak-American Businessman Asadullah Kazmi, Managing
Member of AAZMOK LLC, USA also accompanied the delegation.
Major General (Retd) Shehzada Alam informed about the structural reforms in Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) and
said that level playing field was being assured to all through effective regulatory measures. The Chairman PTCL Mr.
Akhtar Ali Bajwa said that the company had 2.8 % teledensity with five million lines capacity through state of the art fiber optic
technology. It had strong international connectivity and internet back bone, he added. Mr.
Waseem Haqqie, Chairman Board of Investment and other senior officials of BOI and Privatisation
Commission were also present on this occasion.