FIEDMC endeavours to draw foreign investments in CPEC is laudable: Governor Punjab

ISLAMABAD, Mar 03 (APP): Governor Punjab Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar Tuesday said Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) Road Show in London will further attract international investments and strengthen links with multinational companies and institutional investors.

Governor Punjab Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar expressed these views in a reception held in his honour at Manchester by FIEDMC Chairman Mian Kashif Ashfaq, said a press release.

He said FIEDMC is playing vital role for attracting foreign investment for its first prioritized Special Economic Zone Allama Iqbal Industrial City under CPEC.

He said that whole world is now having trust in Pakistan as they all know that Pakistan is now being ruled by honest leadership under Imran khan.

Governor Punjab said that Pakistan and Britain have close ties and UK government has always supported Pakistan in the provision of basic facilities in health and education sectors.

He added that Pakistan community is playing an important role in UK development sector. Pakistan will fully encourage more UK investment in Pakistan.

Chaudhry Sarwar said that cheap labour of 100 million youth was available in the country besides lot of natural resources.

He further said that over 3.5 million Pakistanis were living in Europe and were sending $12 billion annually in shape of foreign remittances to the country.

He said over 8.5 million overseas Pakistanis were living all over the world and they were sending over $ 20 billion remittances to the country annually.

He expressed the hope that foreign remittances would increase further as confidence of overseas Pakistanis were increasing due to prudent economic policies of PTI government.

Chairman FIEDMC Mian Kashif Ashfaq unfolding the distinctive features of FIEDMC roadshow being held tomorrow at High Commissioner London said that Pakistan economy was improving due to positive indicators, like current account deficit was at lower level and foreign remittances were increasing.

“When PTI government came into power, the economy of the country was in crisis due to corruption, money laundering and incompetency of previous governments,” he added.

He further said that “the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Brexit are two important developments, and as the global economic gravity shifts towards Asia, Pakistan is opening new vistas of business opportunities to the advantage of the people in both countries.

Mian Kashif said the United Kingdom is the third largest investor in Pakistan after China and the Netherlands and accounts for 8% of foreign direct investment to Pakistan, also the UK has overtaken China and now is Pakistan’s 2nd largest export market after the US and also the largest market in the Europe”.

“The annual bilateral trade between the United Kingdom and Pakistan has gone up to 2.9 billion just in the last year it has seen a 10% increase in it and annually now Pakistan is exporting 1.8 billion of goods and services to the UK,” he added.

Accordingly, the FIEDMC Chief shared that European countries are keen to invest in various economic sectors of Pakistan especially in newly launched state of the art Allama Iqbal Industrial Estate with 10 years tax holiday coupled with an excellent and unprecedented package of incentives.

He said projects, like FIEDMC’s industrial estates, have the potential to enhance the country’s exports by 1 to $1.5 Billion per annum in the short run with a comprehensive and effectively designed strategy specifically tailored to meet Pakistan’s exporting shortcomings.