Lahore: In an attempt to help the government overcome the low foreign investment phenomenon, the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has decided to step up efforts to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through enhanced interaction with regional chambers of commerce and industry.
The LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari said that the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry had developed an elaborate plan to attract the much-needed FDI by sharing investment opportunities available in the province of Punjab with its regional counterparts.
The LCCI President said that it was a three-pronged strategy that would work wonders as far as investment was concerned. “In the first leg of its proposed plan, the LCCI will take all the investment promotion public sector entities and local chambers of commerce and industry on board for compilation of available opportunities,” said Lashari.
For the second step Lashari said the chamber would “invite diplomats of regional countries and these opportunities would be shared with them to enable them to get them published in their respective countries.”
Finally, the LCCI would send sector-specific delegations to all the chambers of commerce and industry in the regional countries where the delegates would give presentations to their counterparts with a sole objective of inviting them for investment or joint ventures in the field of their choice.
Lashari added that the plan was devised to supplement the government initiatives aimed at attracting foreign direct investment that at present is far below the required level.
“Pakistan needs a growth rate of 7% or more for the next two to three decades to ensure that its GDP doubles every 10 years. Therefore the country must look for a growth driver that can deliver sustained high growth for several decades.”
“Pakistan offers 100% equity ownership and full repatriation of capital therefore any investment made in this part of the world would win rich dividends to the potential foreign investors,” said Lashari
He added that the GSP Plus status granted by the European Union was an added attraction to the regional investors therefore the government and the private sector should make concerted efforts to tap this opportunity to its full potential.
