US business team to meet President, PM in March

WASHINGTON: Lt. General (retd) Daniel Christman, senior vice president for international affairs, has said that a delegation of US-Pakistan Business Council (USPBC) and US Chamber of Commerce will undertake a visit of Pakistan in the month of March.

During its three-day visit from March 14 to March 16, he stated that the US business leaders will also meet with President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, besides meeting senior government officials, as well as leading private sector business representatives.

He disclosed this in his welcome remarks at the ‘hi-tea’ held by the US-Pakistan Business Council and US Chamber of Commerce for Ambassador Jehangir Karamat, who was the main speaker on the occasion.

State Department. DCM Mohammad Sadiq, as well as Pakistan Embassy officials of trade, commerce, press and economic division also attended.

Mr Christman highlighted the centrality of trade and commerce in the US-Pakistan relations, which were close, cooperative and strategic. He said it was reassuring to find Mr Karamat heading the Pakistan embassy, “who was widely known to scholars and highly respected by noted American people, and, who will certainly bring the two peoples even closer, by furthering this close, fruitful and central relationship.”

He said the two nations offer immense business opportunities, and expressed his confidence that a fuller benefit of the obtaining favourable situation would be advantageously taken.

Talking to APP, Adeel Shah of Talnia Corporation, said that a delegation of Pakistani-American investors has recently completed a countrywide visit of Pakistan, and it found immense opportunities for investment in a number of important sectors. He praised the favourable investment climate and prudent economic policies being pursued in Pakistan and the economic strides the country was making in the wake of continuity and economic reforms.

According to sources, these small, off-the-record meetings provide business representatives with invaluable opportunities to discuss project proposals and policy issues with top Pakistani decision-makers. The US-Pakistan Business Council (USPBC) is the leading private sector association of the US companies with business and investment interest in Pakistan.

Mr Karamat said in Pakistan, the foreign investor does not need to seek government’s approval for investment. “There is no control on foreign exchange including transfer of capital and profit and no restrictions or conditions on foreign investors such as those requiring local content or procurement.”

He also referred to Pakistan’s large population and a substantial emerging middle-class, which makes it a sizeable market for trade and investment.

“Pakistan has a diversified agriculture base, a dynamic manufacturing sector, which in addition to textiles, consists of buoyant iron and steel production, electronic and electric good industry, a fast growing chemical and petro-chemical industry and automobile production.” —APP

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