Finance Minister meeting with the members of U.S. Pakistan Business Council (USPBC), the minister appreciated the important role of U.S. corporate sector in strengthening Pak-U.S. economic ties.
The Minister highlighted various initiatives taken by the government to improve business-friendly environment and attract foreign investment in Pakistan. He specifically highlighted the potential of Pakistan in the IT sector as it hosted a community of over a million freelancers, ranked 3rd globally in the freelance market and annually produced over 75,000 IT graduates from 250+ recognized universities.
On the occasion, the participants appreciated the government’s efforts to improve the investment climate in Pakistan and expressed their keen interest in taking Pak-U.S. economic ties to a new level.
Finance Minister highlighted key initiatives, including the Investment Policy 2023, aimed at attracting more foreign investments across various sectors in Pakistan to enhance investors’ confidence and streamline project implementation, particularly in priority sectors such as agriculture, IT, energy, and minerals & mining.
He elaborated that the new policy would simplify business regulations, provide foreign investors freedom to repatriate their profits abroad in their own currency and receive special protection.
He also apprised them of government’s efforts to digitalize the economy and expand the tax base to ensure sustainable economic growth.
The USPBC members welcomed the steps taken by the government of Pakistan to improve the ease of doing business and assured the Minister of USPBC’s continued support to enhance bilateral trade and investment cooperation.
Finance Minister in his address said that the prevailing economic conditions in Pakistan and measures being taken by the government to put the economy on a higher growth trajectory by facilitating exports, increasing remittances, expanding the tax-base, improving ease of doing business, digitalizing economy and attracting FDI into the country. Positive trends in the industrial activity, better agriculture outlook, and improvements in the Composite Leading Indicators (CLI) of Pakistan’s major export markets were all signs that economy was on a recovery path.
The implementation of reforms under the 9th IMF Stand-By Agreement (SBA) provided Pakistan with much-needed macro-economic stability, he said.
The minister said that Pakistan was prioritizing investment in key areas of agriculture, IT, mining and energy to enhance productivity and ensure sustainable growth.
He invited international stakeholders to become close partners in Pakistan’s journey towards economic prosperity and development.
