ISLAMABAD: The geo-political and geo-strategic situation of Pakistan and Afghanistan offers enormous opportunities for regional cooperation as both countries provide a strategic and social-cultural connect to South Asia and Central Asia. This was stated by Minister of State for Investment Saleem H. Mandiwala while addressing the Business Conference on the sideline of 3rd Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan here on Wednesday.

He said the current volume of trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan stands 1.23 billion dollars which is expected to increase further in the years to come with the expansion of trade. The Minister said Pakistan intends to boost trade and business activities and in this regard a number of MOUs have been signed. Referring new trade and transit agreement recently signed between the two countries in Washington, he said it will increase trade with Afghanistan and boost economic activities.

He said Pakistan has been spending three hundred million dollars in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and to improve health and education sectors besides construction of Torkhum-Jalalabad Highway. He said Pakistan is engaged in building a parallel carriageway.

He said currently Pakistan is constructing the two hundred bed Jinnah General Hospital and Thalacemia Centre in Kabul. Another hospital in Logar and a Kidney Centre in Jalalabad will be setup besides a hostel in Kabul.

The Minister said Pakistan has also announced one thousand scholarships for Afghan students and proposed setting up of model villages for Afghan returnees for skill development. He said Pakistan is the most important and pivotal country in the regional scheme of expanding opportunities and its contribution is viable and sustainable to achieve the common goals towards economic interdependence and individual progress. NNI

Pakistan in the past 5 decades has greatly benefited from the astronomical rise of China’s re-entry in the corridors of world power. China has proven to be Pakistan’s time-tested friend and the two countries’ enjoy time-tested brotherly relations. Pakistan and China must focus on developing their relations to the next logical level. Currently, Sino-Pakistani coordination is mostly limited to national security issues such as development of military applications at cost-effective prices and a sprinkle of Chinese investment in Pakistan’s private sector for the development Pakistani industry. Both countries have time and time again identified the need to make their close relations be reflected by increased commerce and trade however this has been limited due to several structural and stability issues on the Pakistani front. Pakistan should focus on ways to fasten regulation and increase incentives for enhanced Chinese investment in Pakistan’s national economy. Cooperation between China and our country – and the ability of Pakistan to take not just from China’s tangible wealth but also to learn how they produced this wealth and regained their greatness can serve the interests of the rising aspirations of the Pakistani people.

Deng Xiaopeng, chairman of the Communist Party of China remarked that it is ‘glorious to get wealthy’. His remark set in motion the events of 1978, when China took steps to de-regulate its command-style economy and the restructuring that resulted in the conversion of the sleepy town of Shenzhen with a population of 5000 people in 1978 to a major world city with a per capita gross domestic product within the city that would compete with Western standards. Shenzhen was the first site of the Chinese experiment with a new form of Chinese communism – one which took some of the tenets of Marxist-Lennism, blended it with Chairman Mao’s desire for self-efficiency, self-reliance and ‘collectivization’, recognized the basic attributes of 5000 years of Chinese culture and psychology, and gave birth to ‘Communism with Chinese characteristics’.

From 1978 onwards, China has liberated over a three hundred million people out of poverty in mainland China. A Chinese middle class has emerged which makes Western multinationals envy the depth of the Chinese consumer’s pocket. While China may have abandoned collective industrial units of Mao or the collective farming societies, China has created a new form of collectivization. Whether this is inadvertent or not is simply not known, but the Chinese Nation thinks with one heart beat when it comes to perceive dangers to Chinese national interest. For example, the typically holier-than-thou patronizing behaviour of the French towards China annoyed the people of China to such an extent that they collectively used the depth and strength of their pockets to ignore French products. This resulted in a downward spiral of profits which were previously being enjoyed by French multinationals in China. At one point, France used to be the #1 destination for Chinese tourists. After the debacle in Paris when the French hosted that imposter the Dalai Lama and dared to intervene in Chinese internal affairs, France’s popularity dropped dramatically amongst the Chinese. The Chinese stood up for their country. France this summer was holding the rotating presidency of the European Union. The Chinese premier rightfully snubbed Sarkozy by calling the E.U-China summit off. President Zardari was able to ‘snub’ Gordon Brown over the illegal Pakistani student arrest issue by refusing to have a joint press conference only to honour Brown’s presence in Islamabad by having our Prime Minister shake hands appear with Gordon Brown in the press conference and Mr.Brown showed neither remorse nor pain for the emotional horror he caused to the families of those ten innocent Pakistani students – a national disgrace for our pride.

Pakistan is not as weak as her civilian leaders make it seem. In the 1970’s, China was surrounded by hostile states. The U.S was considering the possibility of diplomatic relations with the Revolutionary Republic but it remained hostile to China. The Soviet Union and China were increasingly in an estranged relationship and there was a massive military mobilization on their mutual borders and as a consequence there was a genuine split between both countries. China and its neighbour Vietnam were having tensions, while China’s friction with Japan and South Korea remained hot due to both countries hosting American military bases and the conflict in the two Koreas. In between all of this, there was a recalcitrant India under the leadership of Indira Gandhi who had just defeated China’s principal ally Pakistan and she showed signs of wanting to pick a fight with China to avenge the 1962 national humiliation the Chinese delivered to their largest South Asian neighbour in a brief but bitter war. Yet no one could challenge China. China focused on internal development and decided to make itself internally strong.

What began in 1978 transformed the imagination of the Chinese people. In little over a decade, China marched straight to economic progress and technical recovery. By the turn of the millennium, China’s share in global trade took an increasingly upward trend. China averted a South East Asian recession in 2000 when the tech bubble burst in America caused American demand of products from Japan, South Korea, Philippines and Malaysia to decrease significantly. China however in less than 30 years had managed to build up the required capacity to consume those products and hence cushioned the effects of the tech bubble crisis spilling over to South East Asia. Trade and commerce are not just activities for generating employment but should also be used as instruments of foreign policy.

China’s grand stock of over $1.5 trillion in foreign reserves makes it one of the most powerful countries in the world today. While on news we read about Obama announcing stimulus packages, the Chinese are out there too announcing $600billion stimulus packages for their own national economy. While the principal pillar of growth in China since 1978 has been foreign direct investment, in the year 2008 domestic consumption overtook foreign direct investment in size and its totality.

Pakistan needs to learn from China. We cannot just go with a beggars bowl and ask for $500 million every now and then from Beijing. They are our friends and they care for us because they realize the importance Pakistan can play in the emerging world order. But we cannot be part of the new world order that is coming if we remain addicted to peanuts and crumbs because this is making our decadent political elite even more decadent while Pakistanis are unable to realize the Pakistan Ideal.

Pakistan must learn from China. We must focus on developing a holistic trade policy with China. Chinese investment in Pakistan is critical. The technicalities of what China should or should not invest in are a totally different topic, but the main areas need to be mentioned. The need for

• a fibre optic cable connecting Pakistan and China,
• building consumer and cargo railways along the Karakoram Highway,
• enhanced technical partnership,
• enhanced educational partnership,
• and enhanced energy,
• water security, and
• crop production coordination are the areas
• besides defence where China can play an instrumental role.

This will bold well for our national security and help connect Islamabad into a closer orbit with Beijing. The need to promote Mandarin in Pakistan is also needed. While China has instructed many of its institutions to dedicate a certain portion of their staff to learn Urdu (or any other language that would help China), Pakistan has failed to do this. Pakistani officials can sometimes be so insensitive to China that while the Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan was gifting medals and presents to special Pakistani participants in the Special Peoples’ Olympics, Pakistani officials were busy asking Chinese journalists to sit in the back so that foreign (read European and American journalists) could sit in the front while Zardari would unleash the inimitable light he withholds within and which no one can sense or feel at a press conference few months ago. This is not just comical but it is also painful. Get over the hangover that the white man is the master. He is not. We are the masters of our own destiny, as China has demonstrated.

Pakistan is today surrounded by hostile states with the exception of China and the on-again, off-again double-mindedness of Iran. Even though most of us believe the current rounds of tensions with India began after the Mumbai tensions and allegations, this is not true – they merely came to the surface.

• Indo-Pak tensions have been building since 2004 when India unilaterally began constructing dams in Indian-occupied Kashmir, unilaterally violating the Indus Water Treaty and as a consequence severely cutting the water flow of Pakistani rivers and effecting our food security, energy security, and water security.
• Our tensions have also been rising because of Pakistani support to Sri Lanka’s War Agaisnt Terrorism. Our neighbour has been very unhappy of Pakistani assistance in training the Sri Lankan Air Force in precision guided aerial-bombing which has in fact been instrumental in the current success of Sri Lanka in stamping out the Tamil Tiger Threat.

We must not waiver in our conviction that we have the sovereign right to manage our relations bilaterally with who ever we chose to do so and however we choose to do so. We also must have the conviction in ourselves that we have the right to choose how we wish to perceive any 2nd country and for that matter President Obama should kindly focus on the appalling failure of the U.S in Afghanistan and not focus in Pakistan bashing.

However, the emerging dente in America is to de-hyphenate the Western World’s relationship with India and disregard Pakistani and Kashmiri sensitivity with regard to the ongoing occupation in Indian-occupied Kashmir. This emerging dente is the most dramatic change in the South Asia power equation since decades. The only other changes which occurred were the dismemberment of East Pakistan in 1971 and the creation of a Pakistani atomic weapon which had such a profound implication on the regional security of Pakistan. Who does Washington think it is to firstly decide for the entire Western World and also to stab Pakistan in the back once again? Washington is strong in international affairs, but not as strong as it used to be. This creates a creative dynamic in the corridors of world power and Pakistan can manoeuvre smartly if we took the right steps.

What does Pakistan do in the face of a rising pro-India sentiment in Washington? When in doubt, look to Beijing. While we look to Beijing, we should not expect that the Chinese will always be there. Hence we must introspect. While we introspect, we should take Chinese ideas on the sort of actionable change they were able to bring and then we would make the defence of Pakistan impregnable. For now, Pakistan must deeply search its soul and we must all collectively ask ourselves why our parliamentary democracy has failed in living up to the expectations and zeal of the Pakistan Movement. The answer to this is the ‘FM’ word, and feudalism is bad. But the feudal mentality of Pakistan’s decadent political elite reeks of backwardness and is not going anywhere soon. They would rather meet foreign politicians, foreign leaders, and foreign envoys while compete against other feudal-minded personalities’ on how much they are willing to sell our dignity and our sovereignty for a wink (read chance) to sit in the seat of power in Islamabad and the four provinces. Pakistan is in need of a Pakistani Deng Xiaopeng. A man or woman who will display the courage, the audacity, the credentials, and the eloquence needed to march Pakistan to the path of technical capacity, economic prosperity, and intellectual wealth. This will also ensure that a strong sovereign Pakistan emerges which is capable of standing up for its strategic interests externally in this region and beyond. If Pakistan could banish forever the corruption of the feudal mentality, provide some semblance of stability, and adopt ‘Deng Xiaopeng Thought’, then we could really ensure that rooti, kapra, makan would be more than just rhetoric and make it a reality. We could then also aspire for Gari, tahleem, and an avaaz. This voice would be strong and would reflect the imagination of the Pakistani people. Even the moon would be within our reach – as China has demonstrated.

Islamabad: National Traders Alliance (NTA) on Saturday said commercial banks have become a major threat to the development of the country. They are not serving masses but themselves.
Regulators and bureaucracy have been looking after the interests of banks for their personal gains leaving masses high and dry, said Malik Sohail Hussain, VP NTA, President Traders Welfare Association (TWA), Blue Area and former SVP, ICCI.

Successive finance ministers – from Sartaj Aziz to Shaukat Aziz– inflicted losses upon other sectors to promote banking, he said adding that they should be hold accountable. He said this while presiding over a meeting of traders.

Policy to ignore economists and appoint bankers with connections in World Bank and IMF has transformed Pakistan into a heaven for banks who are doubling and tripling their profits every year on the cost of poor depositors,

At the occasion Chairman TWA Malik Saghir, Chairman Banking Committee NTA Shahid Alam, Syed Amin Pirzada, Haji Naeem, Asghar Jahangir, Yusaf Rajput, Ch. Wasim, Raja Hassan Akhtar and others said that foreign bankers have put the country on path of consumerism that resulted in losses to the tune of billions of dollars to economy.

The flawed policies contributed to the widespread poverty, crimes and social unrest. They said:

“Attractive slogans as free market economy, deregulation, privitization and incentives to local and foreign investors etc were used to plunder resources of Pakistan and deprive masses of their lifetime savings,”

Appointment of accountants on important assignments also proved a disaster as they initiated useless schemes debilitating the exchequer. The same ‘wizards’ were instrumental in confiscation of dollar accounts shattering confidence which is yet to be restored.

“Now government is hitting saving schemes to promote banks which amounts to strangulating pensioners who have worked hard all their life,” said Malik Sohail.

The aim of west-inspired bankers is to multiply profits, get incredible perks and privileges and congratulate themselves in papers with no reference to depositors who help banks multiply profits year-on-year. Presently former bankers are running finance ministry and central bank. But the former seems to be a bit different. However, loose control of institutions including SECP, CCP etc is helping banks ensure ruthless profits.

Questions are being raised about hijacking of national saving schemes. Top bankers are against Islamic banking, micro finance, SMEs, savings and other positive trends in society. “President of a provincial bank was shown the door for resisting Islamic banking but resistance to it still prevails,” said Mr. Alam. Will it will need Taliban or Sofi Muhammad to safeguard the interests of masses, he asked.-SANA

Islamabad: Ambassador of Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Pakistan Dr Saleh Ahmed Al-Jawarneh on Tuesday said people of Pakistan have been gifted with special abilities and they can transform country into a great economic power.

Pakistanis have proved surpassing excellence and strength of character in every corner of the world and that the future of country is very promising. A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Jordan and Pakistan will be materialised soon, which will not only bring us closer but also help people of the two brotherly countries, he said.

“Presently bilateral trade is 50 million dollars which is disappointing, increasing it to 300 million dollars in my mission,” the Ambassador said. He said that Pakistani surgical instruments, textiles and pharmaceuticals are in great demand in Jordan while we can export fertilizer to help Pakistan agriculture sector. Many parties have expressed interest in importing fertilizer from Jordan, he informed.

Although desert covers most of my country, rainfall in the northern plateau, combined with modern farming techniques, creates suitable conditions for agriculture and Pakistanis can consider investment there to accomplish food security, he said.

Taking to Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President PEW, Dr. Saleh said, “We have Qualified Industrial Zones where Pakistani businessmen can invest in any sector with 100 per cent ownership rights and zero taxes.” He hoped that the leadership of Pakistan will soon overcome problems employing their wisdom and unleash a new era of development.-PEW

ISLAMABAD: The new privatisation policy provides level playing field and equal opportunities to all investors. Syed Naveed Qamar Federal Minister for Privatisation stated this while addressing a pre?bid meeting of pre?qualified bidders for the privatisation of National Power Construction Company (NPCC) here.

Referring to the sale of 51 % shares of NPCC with management control the Minister said that NPCC transaction being more than midway and at very advanced stage was exempted from the condition of maximum 26 % shares sale envisaged in the new policy.

Around 12 % in this transaction would be given to the employees under the new policy and the government shareholding would have enhanced value after improvement in the company by the new management, he said.

The pre?qualified parties for NPCC, who have completed the process of due diligence of the transaction and participated in the pre?bid meeting included 1. Pak Elektron Limited (PEL), 2. ICC (pvt) Limited, 3. Saudi Cable Company Limited, KSA, and 4. Zad Investment Company, KSA.

The pre?qualified participants of the pre?bid moot were briefed about the bidding process and bid documents of the privatisation of NPCC and the queries of the prospective bidders for the privatisation of NPCC.

The bidding date for NPCC transaction was finalized as April 27, 2009 in consultation with the pre?qualified bidders while April 22, 2009 was fixed for depositing earnest money of Rs.50 million to become eligible for participating in the bidding.

The potential bidders were informed that no employee could be laid off for 12 months and the successful buyer would not sell the company for a period of three years.

The letter of acceptance (LOA) would be issued to the successful bidder within 30 days of the bidding and the sale price along with GHS/VHS amount would be received in a single tranche within 30 days failing which the earnest money of the successful bidder would be forfeited, said Mr. Ahmed Jawad Secretary Privatisation Commission while explaining the salient features of the process.

Briefing the bidding process, Ahmed Jawad said that it would be a two?tier process. In the first round the bidders will drop their sealed bids in the transparent box in the presence of the representatives of the print and electronic media and in the second round the three highest bidders will be asked to improve their bids in open session.

The Privatisation Commission (PC) had invited Expressions of Interest (EOI) from financially sound local and foreign investors with management capability, contracting experience as well as experience of electrical installations interested in acquiring 51% interest in NPCC along with management control as already approved by the Cabinet Committee On Privatisation (CCOP).

The National Power Construction Corporation (Pvt) Limited (NPCC) is a specialist contracting company of Pakistan for construction and management of turnkey power projects including extra high voltage transmission lines, distribution networks, substations, power generation plants, industrial electrification, external lighting of housing complexes etc.

The NPCC’s major area of operation during the last three decades had been in the Middle East with concentration in Saudi Arabia.

The NPCC has successfully secured and completed projects valuing over US$ 600 million, syays a statement of the Privatization commission issued here today.
APP

ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) in its continued efforts to enhance investors’ confidence and facilitate the mutual funds industry has issued Circular No. 11 of 2009 aimed at improving transparency to catalyze growth of the Mutual Funds industry.The move has been introduced in line with the international best practices.

Measures stipulated in the circular focus on the following for uniform dealing with the unit holders by various asset management companies: Introduction of cut-off timings and time stamping mechanism at official points for acceptance of applications; Daily announcement of NAV latest by 1830 hours for open-end collective investment schemes; Simultaneous suspension of redemption and issuance of units by asset management companies; Restriction on closure of register for dividend declaration up to a maximum of six days at a time and not exceeding whole forty-five days in a year; and Sales/marketing as well as Shariah Advisor’s expenses to be borne by the asset management company.

In addition to the aforementioned, asset management companies have been facilitated to claim reimbursement of formation cost incurred by them in connection with the establishment and registration of collective investment schemes immediately upon completion of audit.

The circular has been issued with immediate effect and the requisite amendments in the constitutive documents if any shall be incorporated by collective investment schemes within ninety days of the issuance of this Circular. These measures are expected to create a level-playing field for all players in the industry.SANA

Dubai has always been a hunting ground for skilled and semi-skilled professionals from Indian sub-continent, South East Asia, Africa, various Arab countries as well as Europe and America. However nobody expected to see or experience what they are going through for past one year, including myself!

The coffee table discussions have changed from “how much increment you expect this year?” to “How many laid off from your company?” In real sense Dubai has started bleeding from the recession blows; however there are still arguments whether Dubai is yet to hit by recession.

A brief outlook on recent incidents:
1. More than 100,000 expats from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have left UAE in past 3 months; similar figures can be expected for other nationalities too.
2. There are no or meager increments, people are getting for their efforts put last
year.
3. The tourist visit was almost less by 30% this year compared to last year during
Dubai Shopping Festival.
4. Thousands of Transfer applications are lying with Embassy and schools for those who want to send their families or kids back to home country after end of their school exams.
5. The banks, financial institutions and realty developers have reduced their work force in the range of 20-30% from across the verticals.
6. More than half of development projects have been put on hold, postponed or
cancelled due to lack of funds.
7. The banks are either not issuing any loans and credit cards or following very strict criteria for issuing them.
8. Property rates have gone down by as low as 40% including the rentals market. (Palm Jumeirah Island prices gone down by 50 %!)
9. The money flow in the market is less.
10. The shopping malls and markets are nearly empty.
11. Hotels are running on approx 60-70% occupancy as against 80-90% till last year.
12. Instead of focusing on increasing the revenues and profitability of the company, everyone is stressing more on finding ways of cost cutting and reducing the expenses.
13. Luxury cars, monstrous 4Wheels, and super bikes, which were considered ultimate symbol of being WEALTHY, are now left abandoned in parking lots. As per a recent news, more than 3000 cars were found in parking areas of Dubai International Airport with keys and apology note left for banks and police informing their inability to pay back the car loans and loss of job etc.
14. Approximately 1500 Visas getting canceled everyday for past couple of months.
15. Luxury spending reduced by 25% amongst UAE expatriates.
16. The friendly “Khan Bhai” taxi drivers are earning 50-60% fares against what they used to earn till last year.

Are people still skeptical and wondering if Dubai is yet to face recession?
My company adopted a new strategy of cost cutting, shifting the regional office from UAE to Lebanon without firing anyone. So the new option came up is “accept 25% salary and shift to Lebanon or else QUIT”. Interesting proposition! I like to challenge myself with new projects, but there is always a difference between CALCULATED RISK and IDIOTIC RISK. My entry in Dubai was a calculated risk, and rest is history!

At a time after completing more than a year’s service with my organization and expecting an INCREMENT, 25% deduction surely came as a blow below the belt!. Be it Recession or Appreciation, hundreds of economists as well as theories have always advocated a controlled economic growth, which results in creating evenly balanced crests and troughs on a trend graph!. But when upward curve goes very steep and
disproportionately faster than time, a quick downfall is also inevitable and dangerously at alarming rate; which is bound to leave common man bleeding. (PS: no one is common in Dubai; everyone is unique in their own way)

Dubai converted a common man into a filthy rich family owning a flat in Dubai and a house in homeland within no time. The money was not there, capacity was not there but ownership of flat was surely there along with a PRADO or Mercedes parked outside? Courtesy; the generosity of our banks and financial institutions and their eagle like desire to make every human being in Dubai a millionaire through issuing more and more personal loans, car loans, credit cards etc.

This virtual money which created WEALTH amongst the expatriates has unfortunately became one of the biggest the reasons for the downfall of this gold city.When something which never existed is believed upon, the reality is bound to come out entirely different!

Recently the government had pumped in approx AED 31.1 Dirham to rekindle and provide some support to the falling economy, but the pit created is too deep to be filled up so soon and so easily. One thing the Government surely must have understood from this recent economic massacre is that, giving impetus to tax benefits and infrastructural support to attract investments is surely a successful strategy to develop an economy at a faster pace. But needs to keep enough checks and balances to make sure that; wealth of the country, as well as income of expatriates doesn’t get affected and any economic slump should not result in turning WEALTHY EXPATRIATES into Homeless Refugees.

Islamabad: The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Monday said restoration of chief justice and other deposed judges would rejuvenate confidence of investors and boost economic activities. “Decision of political and military leadership has not only saved country from a big crisis but also diffused a highly volatile situation very skilfully,” said Dr. Murtaza Mughal President of PEW.

Talking to Vice President of National Traders Alliance Malik Sohail Hussain and other business leaders, he said that ending confrontation with the opposition is a step that has been welcomed by business community and all other forums. He said that unreasonable delay in reinstatement of judges has dented the reputation of rulers as well as economy of Pakistan. “Government has restored judges but could not get the credit for it due to delayed decision,” said Dr. Mughal.

“The decision will support economy and push the confidence of financial markets as well as investors,” he said adding that the development will reflect positively on the reputation of Pakistan. At the occasion, Malik Sohail Hussain said that traders were very concerned about the unstable political situation and a number of factors had divided them.

We were extremely concerned about the future of country but now the trading community is comfortable to some extent. He said that now the trading community would play role in development of country with peace of mind.

ISMAABAD: Malaysian government agency “The Malaysia’s Professional Services Development Corporation (PSDC)” will channel the Malaysian trade, investment and services to Pakistan. According to statement, received from Pakistan High Commission Malaysia, PSDC’ Manager S. Arokiadass on behalf of PSDC President, IR Ahmad Asri Abdul Hamid speaking in a seminar held by PSDC on the theme “Doing Business in Pakistan” in Kuala Lumpur, said that Pakistan and people of Pakistan are serious and committed to do business, trade and investment with Malaysia.

He said that PSDC will coordinate and facilitate any business venture of Malaysian Professional Services Providers, trader and investors with Pakistan by coordinating their proposals with the Pakistan High Commission and the government of Pakistan.

The High Commissioner for Pakistan in Malaysia Lt. Gen. (R) Tahir Mahmood Qazi in his introductory remarks said that Pakistan provides immense lucrative business trade and investment opportunities, specially in the field of Housing and Construction, Power Generation and Infrastructure Development.

He urged the Malaysia businessmen to avail this time bound opportunity and be a part of six hundred foreign companies which are currently doing business in Pakistan in various sectors of Pakistan’s economy.

The Commercial Counselor for Pakistan High Commission, M. Majid Qureshi gave a comprehensive presentation on the theme “Doing Business in Pakistan” to a large number of Malaysian Professional Services Providers, bankers, traders, investors and business persons who attended the seminar in a large number.

Majid Qureshi during his presentation said that despite of global economic slow down; various indicators of Pakistan’s economy are still positive and healthy. He said that all sectors of Pakistan’s Economy are open for foreign investment barring security printing and explosive.

He said that Pakistan offers immense opportunities for foreign investors in the field of Housing and construction, renewable energy, agriculture and Infrastructure Development. He said that any businessperson of Malaysia who intends to visit Pakistan may contact Pakistan High Commission which in turn will not only facilitate his visit to Pakistan, but will provide all necessary assistance and guidelines for his business venture in Pakistan.-SANA

Federal Minister for overseas Pakistanis Dr. Farooq Sattar on Tuesday said that Overseas Pakistanis would be given seats in the Parliament and the Senate. Addressing High Profile Pakistan International Council seminar organized by Pakistan’s Ambassador at Large, Mr. Javed Malik, held here, he said, “We agreed to prepare a piece of legislation which would create a few seats for overseas Pakistanis to our national assembly, to our senate and to our provincial legislature”.

“This exists in some of the most modern countries of the world like China, Germany and Italy, where overseas citizens have representation back home in their own parliaments”, he added. Appreciating the idea of formation of Pakistan International Council to play a key role in uniting the overseas Pakistani community, he said that the overseas Pakistanis would be given a status of a VIP when coming back home.

He said he was already working on ensuring that they were also given a right to vote in Parliament. Speaking on the occasion, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad appreciated the efforts of Pakistan’s Ambassador at Large, Javed Malik and assured him of the full support of the government.

He called on the overseas based Pakistanis are an asset for Pakistan and the government will do all that it can to ensure that they are supported in every way. speaking on the occasion, Pakistan’s Ambassador at Large, Javed Malik appreciated the role being played by overseas Pakistanis and said that the government was working on a series of initiatives to recognize their contributions not only to support Pakistan but also in highlighting the positive image of the country.

He also paid rich tributes to Friends of Pakistan, and said ”in addition to the overseas Pakistanis, we will also recognize and appreciate the support of Friends of Pakistan, these are people who may not be Pakistani by nationality but have a great interest with Pakistan”.

“We appreciate the support of our friends. We will demonstrate this appreciation through Prime Minister’s Global Pakistani Awards which have been launched on directives of the Prime Minister of Pakistan to honour, recognize and appreciate the role of overseas Pakistanis and Friends of Pakistan annually”, he added.

Deputy Speaker of National Assembly, Faisal Karim Kundi, other Federal Ministers and Mayor of Karachi, and distinguished Middle East based Pakistanis, a large number of Arab personalities including members of the Royal family and leading businessmen were present on the occasion. -SANA