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A seven member French Businessmen delegation of Association for the Development of International Exchanges of Food and Agricultural Products and Technologies (ADEPTA), led by Mr. Florian de Saint Vincent, currently on a visit to Pakistan, held a meeting with Senator Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Federal Minister for Privatization & Investment here today.
Welcoming the French delegation Senator Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh stated that
there was tremendous scope for promoting bilateral trade and investment
relations between the two countries and added that Pakistan had adopted
pro-business & investment policies and the climate for business was very
conducive. Pakistan now enjoyed positive image in the comity of Nations, which
was evident from the existence of over 600 foreign enterprisers operational in
Pakistan, he said.
Terming the French businessmen delegation as a follow up of Investment
Conference inaugurated by the President General Pervez Musharraf in Paris this
year, the Minister said that the President attached great importance to the
economic uplift of the country and the consistency of his economic policies
had put the country to the path of economic stability and prosperity.
The Minister highlighted briefly the salient features of liberal Investment
and Privatisation Policies of Pakistan, in which there was no restriction in
establishing Joint Ventures with local private sector or to have 100 % equity
and that all sectors were open for foreign Investment and there was no
discrimination between domestic and foreign investors for the purpose of
taxation and facilitation and level playing field was being provided to all
investors. The economic indicators like stable exchange rate, all time
high foreign exchange reserves of over 11 billion dollars, good export
performance and FDI increase of 65% as compared to the last year proved that
Pakistan was a place where business could flourish and the French companies
should also come forward as Pakistan provided strong economic growth
potential, he added.
The French delegation was invited to participate in the Lahore Investment
Conference being held in February next year and to hold an exhibition of
French machineries of agro-food industry including processing and packing and
grading on this occasion. This will provide ample opportunities to the French
companies to introduce their products and services. The delegation will have
in depth interaction with the private sector, Horticulture Board, SMEs and
Chambers of Commerce & Industry during their stay in Pakistan.
The possibilities of joint venture with Pakistani business entrepreneur in the
field of Agriculture including Fisheries & Agriculture, Fruits, vegetables &
Flower industries, Livestock / Dairy & meat processing, Industrial Farming &
Forestry, Processing, Grading, Packing & Packaging were discussed during the
meeting.
Mr. Raza Hayat Heraj Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs informed the
French delegation that about 2% of milk was being processed in Pakistan and
the rest was consumed without processing which sometime hazardous to health.
The government was considering to introduce legislation for stopping the sale
and consumption of un-processed milk. It will provide ample opportunities for
processing and sale of processed milk. Recently the government had introduced
legislation to curb adulteration of food, medicines and pesticides, which had
received encouraging response from all the stakeholders, he added. Mr. Florian
de Saint Vincent, the leader of French delegation stated that they were
convinced about the Pakistan's potential in the field of agriculture and
agro-food industry and they were keen to establish joint ventures with the
private entrepreneur of Pakistan. There was a tremendous opportunities for
packing, processing and exports of fruits and vegetables from Pakistan
including mangoes, he said.
ADEPTA is a pool networking of about 200 efficient French companies offering
various services in the field of Agriculture and Trading. The delegation
comprises M. Morel M/s. IMV Technologies, Johan Degardin GM M/s. ERCA FORMSEAL,
Daniel Export Manager M/s. PREPAC, Florian de Saint-Vincent Export Manager
M/s. ADEPTA, Ms. Stephanie Fabre, GM M/s. Caustier, Alian Philippot Export
Manager M/s. SERAP and Mrs.Brigitte Bouvet Commercial Counsellor Embassy of
French Republic.
The Minister of State and Parliamentary Affairs Raja Hayat Heraj, Secretary
Privatization Commission Mr. Ahmad Waqar, Secretary Board of Investment Dr.
Agha Ghazanfar, and senior officials from Ministry of Food & Agriculture,
Privatisation Commission and BOI also attended the meeting.