A delegation of the UK-Pakistan Business Council (UK-PBC) will visit Pakistan in May to explore new opportunities for investment, said Mr Attaul Haq, UK-PBC chairman, during a meeting with Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) President Engineer Hafiz Ihtasham Javed in his office.
he said that Faisalabad has a key position in the national economy and hence the UK-PBC delegation will also visit Faisalabad during its scheduled visit to discuss with local industrialists about matters of mutual interest. He said that leading business companies are included in this delegation while the CEO of the leading international brand “Marks Spencer” is also visiting Pakistan for the first time in history. They will particularly visit Allama Iqbal SEZ to set up their units as joint ventures in addition to ensuring technology transfer. The delegation is also expected to sign an MoU with the FCCI for close liaison between the business communities of the two countries. He said that large manufacturing units are already making exports to the UK and other developed countries but he intends to open new avenues of exports for the handicapped SME sector. In this connection, he has convinced “Amazon” to facilitate this segment to start exporting its products to the global markets as E-commerce has become a buzzword in the global markets. He assured that in order to give much-needed awareness to the SME sector about this facility, awareness sessions could also be arranged physically or through Zoom.
Engineer Ihtasham welcomed the visit of the UK-PBC delegation and said that Pakistan and the UK are already enjoying good economic relations. He said that Pakistan is blessed with cheap human resources and British investors must benefit from them. He said that UK investment must be linked with technology transfer as it will help Pakistan to enhance the export of fully finished goods instead of exporting raw or semi-finished products. He said that a comparative study was being conducted to evaluate the facilities being extended to the new investors in Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Pakistan. “It will be submitted to the Pakistan Board of Investment & Trade and Punjab Board of Investment & Trade (PBIT) to take similar measures to attract maximum foreign investors. He further said that one window operation would also be launched in its true spirit to attract maximum foreign investment in Pakistan. He said that FCCI will also arrange B2B meetings with UK and Pakistani investors during the upcoming visit of the UK delegation.
The meeting was also attended by Senior Vice President Chaudhry Talat Mahmood, Mian Naeem Ahmad, Rana Muhammad Sikandar Azam Khan, Kashif Zia, and Mr Farrukh Iqbal.