ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has asked foreign investors to take benefits of the lucrative incentives offered by the government as the country is fully focused towards Industrial transformation.
Pakistan’s Board of Investment (BOI) has presented Investment opportunities in China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) during a webinar jointly organised by Embassies of Pakistan and China in Jakarta. 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 among Pakistan, China and Indonesia.
A detailed presentation on CPEC was delivered by Project Director Project Management Unit (PMU), Asim Ayub. He briefed the audience about Industrial Cooperation under CPEC, various incentives available to investors under Special Economic Zones (SEZ) act. He further said that 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.
Addressing the webinar, Chairman BOI Atif Bokhari shared that CPEC has entered in its second phase and efforts are now focused on forging Business to Business (B2B) and Person to Person (P2P) collaborations in the form of industrial & socio-economic cooperation. Briefing about Pakistan’s liberal investment regime, chairman stated that Pakistan allows 100% 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 & custom duty exemption on import of capital goods to both developers & enterprises.
He further stated that the government has launched conducive policies for electric vehicles, mobile manufacturing, construction sectors in a bid to enhance investment profile of Pakistan. He concluded by encouraging Indonesian & Chinese investors to be part of the shared future of industrialization & 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 & untapped business opportunities.
The participants identified that Pakistan & Indonesia can explore collaboration in the field of textile, food processing, agricultural products, infrastructural development, chemical & pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, gemstones, iron & steel to name a few, as Indonesian companies have vast experience & expertise in these areas. The Indonesian speakers stated that their companies can help Pakistan in establishing downstream industry & also assist with value added products.
Secretary BOI Fareena Mazhar applauded the efforts of the organisers 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. Fareena shared that Pakistan would welcome Indonesian investment in sectors such as food & 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.
MOS/Chairman BOI, Ambassadors of Pakistan & China to Jakarta, Deputy Minister for Coordination & Mining, Chairman KADIN, DG NDRC, Deputy Chairman BKMP, and Deputy Director CIECC were part of the webinar. The event highlighted the achievements of the CPEC as the flagship project of Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) & apprised the audience about the project’s inclusiveness to third party participation.