WASHINGTON, Jul 22 (APP): Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday invited the Pakistani-American businessmen to explore the new encouraging environment in Pakistan that offered ease of doing business and encouraged attractive profit-making.
Addressing at the Trade and Investment Conference, the prime minister said the government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had introduced a new mindset of wealth creation and promoted foreign investment.
“This is the mindset of Naya Pakistan where facilitation of businessmen is a priority,” he said at the forum, attended by leading businessmen and investors belonging to Pakistani-origin community.
The prime minister said most of the North Americans-Pakistanis in particular were self-made and had special place in his heart for their hard work.
“Pakistan has expectations from you to support the government in its journey of development,” he told the Pakistan-American businessmen, who responded to the prime minister with a big applause.
The prime minister said a one-window operation was being set up at the PM Secretariat for foreign businessmen for smooth process of trade and investment.
For dual nationals, he said besides the facility of voting, the government was also considering allowing them contesting the general elections.
He mentioned that the government was focusing on wealth creation and was also laying emphasis on agriculture to tap investors.
He lauded his economic team including Abdul Razak Dawood and Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh who were steadfast in dealing with the difficult most economic challenges of the country.
The prime minister said Pakistan with its rich human resource of 220 million offered great potential for investment and mentioned that China, Russia, Qatar, Japan and the United Arab Emirates had shown great interest in business.
He said Pakistan had immense potential due to its strategic location and being situated at the crossroads of big international markets.
Also, he said Pakistan’s tourism potential offered gateway to sufi shrines, Buddhist monasteries, Hindu temples and Sikh Gurdwaras.
He said the country’s northern areas were the best-kept secrets of scenic beauty and added that this year, local tourism witnessed unprecedented upsurge.
He said 20 new resorts were being opened in Pakistan and invited the foreign businessmen to invest in tourism-related areas, including hotel industry.
He regretted that the previous two governments inflicted huge financial loss to the country, which severely discouraged foreign investment.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the Pakistanis residing in the United States had shown confidence in Prime Minister Imran Khan due to the fact that “he delivered whenever made promise.”
He said Pakistan had taken steps to facilitate foreign investment in shape of ease of doing business and liberalization of visas for a more enabling trade environment.
He expressed confidence that expatriate Pakistani businessmen could make huge contribution for realizing the vision of a ‘Naya Pakistan’.
VNS Islamabad
