Planning Minister lauds Chinese investment at CPEC Report launch

Islamabad: Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal today (Friday afternoon) launched a report titled “Private Investment and Benefiting from CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor).”

Addressing the launch ceremony Iqbal said that when the economy stabilises, the increase in imports hinders the stability of payments.

“The CPEC only on papers in 2013. When the Chinese government and investors invested in Pakistan even the local investors were not ready to invest,” he recalled.

The minister mentioned that during the past 75 years, the Pakistani economy had been running like a roller-coaster. “We focused on imports, not exports,” he maintained, adding that investors from any country, including Europe and America, were not ready to come to Pakistan.

“In five years, investments of US $29 billion came from China; China is also willing to invest more with access to its own markets,” he informed.

Talking about the energy crisis, Iqbal said that electricity can be generated from Thar Coal for 400 years.

“Thar Coal is the cheapest power generation project in Pakistan, he added.

“China came and invested in Thar Coal. In 2013, infrastructure and energy problems were faced. CPEC is not just a power and infrastructure plan, CPEC is a strategic plan,” he remarked.

The federal minister said that Pakistan exports US $2 billion to China annually. The Chinese government is ready to help Pakistani exporters, he acknowledged.

Iqbal highlighted that the Chinese companies and investors were trying to solve visa problems.

“If we work together, CPEC will surely prove to be a game changer,” he stated.The event was also attended by Jamil Ahmad Qureshi, DG Investment Promotion Board of Investment (BOI), Yang Jianduo, chairman All Pakistan Chinese Enterprises’ Association (APCEA), and representatives from the relevant government and private sector organisations.Pakistan Business Council’s (PBC) prepared the report ‘Catalyzing Private Investment in Pakistan: Leveraging the CPEC Opportunity’.The study discusses Pakistan’s investment performance and attractiveness for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with respect to law and order, fiscal policy, labour productivity, infrastructure, energy, logistics and market access. It also includes a section on issues faced by Chinese investors in Pakistan.The report recommends simplification of the regulatory procedures, consistent and equitable tax policies, provision of energy at a competitive cost and timely settlement of dues. “For this Pakistan needs to formulate a comprehensive roadmap of institutional and structural reforms.”As per the report, Pakistan’s FDI-strategy needs to focus more sharply on exports, advanced manufacturing, value-added agriculture, and electronics, among others.It also includes a regional comparative, which shows scope for significant improvement in most parameters and ascribes this as the reason for hesitancy of the Chinese private sector to relocate labour-intensive manufacturing to Pakistan. Speaking on the occasion, APCEA chairman said through regular interaction between the private sectors of the two countries, better understanding could emerge and that his organisation looked to PBC to facilitate it, he added.