Islamabad: Claiming that “there was a huge appetite for investment in Pakistan,” Interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar Friday said an estimated $ 60-70 billion foreign investment was expected in the country over the next three to five years.
The investment was expected under the government’s new initiative of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a civil-military joint initiative launched by the previous government, Kakar told journalists.
“There are also pledges and promises of additional investments the country can receive totalling nearly the same amount … we have to design and submit the diversified projects,” he said, adding, “There was a huge appetite for investment in Pakistan.”
According to some estimates, he said, Pakistan has mines and minerals worth $ 5-6 trillion.
The reserves at Reko Diq in Balochistan alone have a worth of $ 700 billion, he said, adding, “We are moving towards realizing this potential.”
The caretaker prime minister said there was a plan to exploit the vast potential in the agriculture sector. He also talked about the potential in the IT sector and defence production.
Kakar said the SIFC has also developed a website where updated information is available about current joint ventures, as well as where the potential for future investments lies.
The initiative would help to realise the potential in areas such as mines and minerals, agriculture, Information Technology and defence production. “We took the initiative of SIFC to realise this potential and we are going in the right direction as far as scientific methods and financial models are concerned,” he said.
He highlighted that Pakistan had huge land that could be used for agricultural purposes and could serve half of the Asian population’s food requirements. He rejected the impression that there was a shortage of water to irrigate the barren land across the country.
The core responsibility of the caretaker government was to facilitate elections across the country, he said and declared, “But, the government would also try to improve the taxation mechanism and address other economic challenges.”
Asserting that the economic migration was not a new phenomenon and that people were leaving the country for a better future, Kakar said, “They would also contribute to Pakistan’s economy in future. Therefore, it should not be considered a brain drain.”
He also said the government minutely looked into the problem of inflated electricity bills and would come up with a solution within the next 48 hours.
He pointed out that the power sector had been a very challenging issue since the 1990s and the governments of that time signed agreements with independent power producers to overcome load shedding, which proved costly for consumers.
He also made it clear that the government would fulfil its agreements with international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund.
The PM’s media interaction came as the foreign ministry held a session for the resident Diplomatic Missions in Islamabad on the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), according to the Foreign Office (FO).
Dr Jehanzeb Khan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Government Effectiveness, made a detailed presentation informing the diplomatic corps on the establishment and various aspects of the Council. He particularly highlighted investment opportunities in Pakistan in four key areas: IT, Agriculture, Energy and Mining.
“The participating diplomatic missions were requested to brief and encourage their countries to profit from the promise of Pakistan being a resource-rich country,” FO said.
It said that Pakistan recently constituted SIFC to serve as a ‘One-Window’ platform to fast-track decision-making and promote as well as facilitate Foreign Direct Investment in the country.
PTI