CPEC SEZs offer massive investment opportunities: BOI chief

Islamabad: Chairman Pakistani Board of Investment (BOI) Muhammad Azfar Ahsan has said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs) offered massive investment opportunities.

Addressing an online investment seminar organized by the BOI in collaboration with the Pakistan Embassy in United States, Ahsan informed the participants about Pakistan’s massive investment potential.

He shared that in the CPEC’s SEZs, distinctive incentives were being offered to the investors for enhancing productivity and reducing cost of doing business with overall objective to accomplish economic and industrial development goals.

He added that it was a great opportunity for prospective investors to invest in the 22 notified SEZs independently or through joint ventures with their Pakistani counterparts and reap benefits from the available incentives thus realizing true potential arising out of the CPEC.

Ahsan, while describing BOI’s role, mentioned that it acted as an interface between international and local investors, public and private sector and works for creating a conducive business environment through policy and strategic interventions.

He told the audience about BOI spearheading the Pakistan Regulatory Modernization Initiative (PRMI), launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan. “Once rolled out, it shall transform the regulatory landscape across all tiers of government and will simplify and automate the regulatory requirements,” he elaborated.

Ahsan underlined that this platform had brought together business leaders from an array of potential sectors. He hoped that the webinar would prove to be instrumental in exploring new horizons for moving towards enhanced trade and investment linkages.

In her speech, Secretary BOI Fareena Mazhar remarked that Pakistan offered the potential investors a robust consumer market with an ever expanding middle class.

She pointed out that Pakistan’s its strategic location at the crossroads of South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia and proximity to the Gulf countries, made it a promising regional hub and an important destination for trade and investment.

Speaking on the occasion, Pakistan’s Ambassador in US, Asad Majeed underscored that Pakistan was replete with investment opportunities and has a lot of potential as an investment destination.