KARACHI: President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan, while warmly welcoming United States and United Kingdom’s decision to ease their travel advisory for Pakistan, said that the Karachi Chamber has been widely demanding relaxation in travel advisory and it was really heartening to see that the travel advisories have finally been eased by both these countries which would surely bring the people, particularly the business communities, more close to each other.
“During the visit of every single diplomat throughout year, Chairman Businessmen Group Siraj Teli and all Office Bearers have been vocally urging the world community to ease travel advisories for Pakistan particularly Karachi. We are very delighted to see that US and UK have relaxed their travel advisories and hope that more such announcements will be made by other important countries, particularly those from the European region as the security situation in Pakistan is much better now and it is a safe and secure destination for foreign investors and visitors”, he added in a statement issued.
Agha Shahab, while terming it ‘a step in the right direction’, commented that this clearly indicates that the US and UK have realized the improved security situation in Pakistan thanks to the untiring efforts made by Law Enforcing Agencies who struggled really hard to cleanse Pakistan from the menace of terrorism and lawlessness. “After this positive news, the business and industrial community of Karachi expects improved trade and investment ties with the businessmen and investors from US and UK which was badly needed to deal with the ongoing economic crises being faced by the country”, he said while urging the business communities of the two major economies to come forward and visit Pakistan which offers immense trade and investment opportunities in almost all the sectors of the economy.
He said that foreign investors from US and UK looking forward to invest or undertake joint venture in Pakistan must at least pay one visit to Karachi in order to see the ground realities themselves instead of relying on media reports which are usually exaggerated to create hype. Karachi is the financial, industrial and commercial hub of Pakistan contributing more than 70 percent revenue to the national exchequer. Being the port city, Karachi is ideally located and a perfect place offering a lot of trade and investment opportunities. “With a huge population of more than 22 million dwellers and spread on an area of more than 3,500 sq. kilometers, Karachi is a highly lucrative market therefore, the foreign investors must come, see the endless potential of this great city and benefit from the situation.”
President KCCI was of the opinion that this was right time that the decision makers and authorities in Islamabad must devise effective strategies on top priority to highlight the trade and investment potential of Pakistan, besides taking steps to promote the massive number of tourism opportunities all over the country. “We have some of the most scenic tourism sites in northern areas, beautiful coastal belt in Sindh and Balochistan, highly impressive and unique culture and civilization in all the provinces which have to be effectively promoted to capture the attention foreign tourists who are always keen to explore such destinations”, he added.
