Daily Times

The Board of Investment (BOI) on Thursday said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) provide excellent opportunities in various fields for Chinese and Indonesian investors to play their due role in this major economic and industrial project.

The Board of Investment (BOI) presented Investment opportunities in CPEC during a webinar jointly organized by Embassies of Pakistan and China in Jakarta.

Chairman Board of Investment (BOI), Atif Bokhari, Ambassadors of Pakistan and China to Jakarta Xion Qian, Deputy Minister for Coordination and Mining, Chairman KADIN, DG NDRC, Deputy Chairman BKMP, Deputy Director CIECC were part of the webinar, said a press release issued by BOI here.

The event highlighted the achievements of the CPEC as the flagship project of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and apprised the audience about the project’s inclusiveness to third party participation.

Addressing the webinar, Minister of State/Chairman BOI, Atif Bokhari appreciated the organizers for holding such a meaningful webinar on CPEC. He shared that CPEC has entered in its second phase and efforts are now focused on forging Business to Business (B2B) and peer-to-peer (P2P) collaborations in the form of industrial and socio-economic cooperation.

Briefing about Pakistan’s liberal investment regime, Chairman stated that Pakistan allows 100 percent repatriation of profits, dividends and capital.

In addition, Pakistan is actively pursuing development of SEZs and is offering attractive fiscal incentives including 10-year tax holiday on income and custom duty exemption on import of capital goods to both developers and enterprises.

He further stated that the Government has launched conducive policies for Electric Vehicle, Mobile manufacturing, Construction sectors in a bid to enhance investment profile of Pakistan.

He concluded by encouraging Indonesian and Chinese investors to be part of the shared future of Industrialization and economic prosperity.

Pakistan Ambassador to Jakarta Muhammad Hassan underscored the importance of the webinar as a meaningful platform that offers an opportunity to all sides to understand and explore potential avenues.

Ambassador of China Xion Qian remarked that CPEC is a landmark project and it offers valuable opportunity to the three countries to explore trilateral cooperation and untapped business opportunities.

The participants identified that Pakistan and Indonesia can explore collaboration in the field of textile, food processing, agricultural products, infrastructural development, chemical and pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, gemstones, iron and steel to name a few, as Indonesian companies have vast experience and expertise in these areas.

The Indonesian speakers stated that their companies can help Pakistan in establishing downstream industry and also assist with value added products.

Federal secretary BOI Ms. Fareena Mazhar applauded the efforts of the organizers for arranging the webinar.

She stated that Pakistan is taking several reform initiatives to streamline our business processes and offer a conducive business environment to both local and foreign investors.

Ms. Fareena shared that Pakistan would welcome Indonesian investment in sectors such as food and agriculture, value added textile, tourism, construction and also encourage investors to explore the Electric Vehicle sector as Pakistan offers tremendous scope for setting EV manufacturing units.

A detailed presentation on CPEC was delivered by Project Director PMU, Asim Ayub.

He briefed the audience about Industrial Cooperation under CPEC, various incentives available to investors under SEZ act and Pakistan also offers sole enterprise option.

He emphasized that Pakistan is fully focused towards Industrial transformation and investors should take benefit of the lucrative incentives.

The webinar offered an opportunity to jointly explore the promising prospects of CPEC and to devise a way forward to bolster regional economic cooperation.

The participants vowed to further advance Industrial cooperation between Pakistan, China and Indonesia.

Progress review:

Federal Minister for Privatisation, Mohammedmian Soomro on Wednesday chaired weekly privatisation progress review meeting and discussed different matters related privitization of different entities.

Federal Secretary Privatisation Hasan Nasir Jamy, Additional Secretary Privatisation Khaqan Babar and other senior officers of the Ministry and Privatisation Commission attended the meeting. The minister was briefed about the matters relating to progress on the transactions of various entities included in the active privatisation list. The impediments being faced were discussed thoroughly to clear them.

The progress made in the privatisation of National Power Parks Management Company Ltd. (NPPMCL) Nandipur and Guddu Power Plants, Heavy Electrical Complex, Services International Hotel, Jinnah convention Center, Pakistan Steel Mills, SME Bank, House Building Finance Corporation (HBFCL), First Women Bank was presented in detail. The issues of shares divestment of OGDCL, PPL and Mari Petroleum was also reviewed.

Mohammedmian Soomro stated that co-ordination with and cooperation of all the concerned ministries, divisions and other stake holders was very important for successful timely completion of transactions of PSEs, therefore, regular inter-ministerial meetings must continue. The minister urged the officers/ officials to make all out efforts to resolve the related issues so the targets could be achieved in stipulated time and also in an efficient and effective manner.