According to newspaper reports, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that overseas Pakistanis are the asset of the nation and the government gives great importance to their role in the country’s development.
There are millions of well-to-do Pakistanis who have settled in Europe, Americas and Gulf States and their hearts throb in the name of Pakistan. If the government ensures the protection of their life and property, they will not hesitate to invest their hard-earned money in Pakistan.
On another note, French Envoy Martine Dorencehas said that a French delegation will visit Pakistan in the beginning of the next year to assess trade and investment opportunities in Pakistan. In a meeting with Ijaz A Mumtaz, the president of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, she said that the visit of the delegation is aimed to enhancing economic and trade relations between the two countries and will pave the way for launching various joint projects in Pakistan. She also says that large scale French companies are eager to invest in Pakistan while various companies are already working in the field of pharmaceutical, chemicals, telecommunication, marketing, textile and food processing. She says that France wants to see a strong Pakistan and will extend its cooperation for the purpose. The LCCI chief said that the volume of trade between the two countries is less than $1 billion which needs to be enhanced.
Meanwhile, Trade minister Khurram Dastgir Khan has met Hungarian envoy and invited him to invest in the field of agriculture, energy, information technology, housing, and alternative means of energy in Pakistan. He said that there is a capacity in all the sectors of the Pakistani economyfor the foreign investors to launch profitable businesses.
It is a good omen that the government is trying its best to attract foreign investment to improve the lot of the nation. There can be two opinions on the ability and capacity of the government to deal with economic crisis, but its sincerity cannot be challenged. The government has recently signed agreements with Chinese government for a large-scale investment in Pakistan and it is hoped that a new era of economic development will dawn on the Pakistani nation.
