Many Swiss companies are doing good business in Pakistan and more are interested to explore Pakistan for partnerships and investment as they consider Pakistan a potential market for business activities. These views were expressed by Bernhard Furger, Deputy Head of Mission, Switzerland Embassy during an interaction with local business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He accompanied Mr. Beat Ineichen, Senior Consultant (South Asia) of Switzerland Global Enterprise, which is an umbrella organization of Switzerland to promote the Swiss exports and joint ventures of the Swiss companies in other countries. Speaking at the occasion, Beat Ineichen, Senior Consultant (South Asia) of Switzerland Global Enterprise said that the Western media was not projecting good image of Pakistan while things here were much better. He said that he wanted to bring more Swiss companies to Pakistan so that they could see the real potential of Pakistan and explore business partnerships. He said the initiatives of the new government in Pakistan have created positive sentiment in foreign investors. He said that Swiss companies were interested in booming sectors in Pakistan and in the first phase they were looking for partners to promote exports to Pakistan while in the second phase they could come to Pakistan with technology transfer to invest in promising sectors of Pakistan’s economy. He said that Swiss advanced technology, expertise and knowledge would benefit Pakistan, especially its SMEs. He said the purpose of his visit was to study Pakistan’s market for partnerships and investment. Speaking at the occasion, Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry briefed the delegation about the potential business opportunities in various sectors of Pakistan’s economy. He identified automobile, construction, energy, oil & gas, mining, IT, hoteling and tourism as potential areas for JVs and investment for Swiss companies. He emphasized that Swiss investors should bring technology and cooperate with Pakistan in hydropower, renewable energy, dairy farming, construction of new five star hotels and housing units. Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President ICCI said that Switzerland was quite strong in tourism while Pakistan has great potential for tourism which still remained untapped. They stressed that Swiss companies of tourism sector should set up JVs in Pakistan for promoting its tourism industry. Khalid Malik, M. Naveed Malik, Tahir Abbasi, Abbas Hashmi, Dildar Abbasi, Nisar Langa, Sheikh M. Ilyas, Ch. M. Tahir and others were also present in the meeting. Published in Daily Times, December 5th 2018.