NEW YORK: The US and Pakistani experts have highlighted the improved economy of Pakistan mainly due to the fulfilment of promise by the government.
At a networking session for the fourth US Business Opportunities Conference, the first to be held in the United States, they applauded the Pakistan government’s efforts for restoring economic stability, saying its reforms had improved the country’s stature in the eyes of investors.
The previous conferences took place in London, Dubai and Islamabad. Around 300 industry representatives, investors, and government leaders from the two countries as well as emerging professionals and entrepreneurs were present at the event held at CitiCorp Headquarters.
Among those who spoke at the session were: Chairman of the US-Pakistan Business Council (USPBC) Mahmood Khan, Chief Executive Officer, IBX/Global Bob Dechant, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani, and Export-Import Bank of the United States Chairman Fred Hochberg. The officials said that 2016 conference would highlight business opportunities for the US. and Pakistani businessmen, with particular focus on fashion apparel, healthcare, information technology, communication and agriculture. Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan, who is leading the Pakistan delegation, will address the main session of the conference on its second day on Friday.
The US delegation is being led by Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews, and besides EXIM bank’s chairman, includes US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Olson, USAID Assistant to the Administrator for Afghanistan and Pakistan Larry Sampler and US Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs Ziad Haider. General Electric Vice Chairman John Rice will also deliver a keynote speech.
“Pakistan today is brimming with the true promise of a mega country,” the Pakistani Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani told the gathering, and added, “It is a promise fuelled by expectation of sustaining high growth rates that would translate into enhanced purchasing power of an expanding middle class.”
“Acknowledgements have come from the highest monetary institutions like International Monetary Fund and the World Bank,” he added. “Most significantly, this promise has been acknowledged and embodied in the $46 billion CPEC – underwritten by China being one of the most salient business savvy states,” he said.
He recalled that Export-Import Bank Chairman Goldman Sachs Hochberg, who visited Pakistan in April, had said he was impressed by the economic turnaround in the country, saying a number of projects were under consideration for financing purposes. He said that strengthening trade and commercial links was the best way to ease diplomatic and political tensions between the two countries.
In his welcome address, US-Pakistan Business Council Chairman Mahmood Khan said that members of his group were “bullish about business prospects in Pakistan. He said that the overwhelming response to this year’s conference showed that companies in both countries were eyeing opportunities to grow US-Pakistan trade and investment.
“The business community strongly supports a reinvigorated US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue and applauds the shared commitment of both the governments to expanding and deepening bilateral economic, trade, and investment cooperation,” Khan asserted. Speakers at the event praised the April 2016 launch of the Pakistan Private Investment Initiative (PPII), a partnership between the US. Agency for International Development (USAID) and three private equity fund managers, for providing capital to small and medium sized businesses in Pakistan.
