KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday told Iranian businessmen to invest in the vast opportunities in the province particularly in energy, infrastructure development, education, health, agriculture and various other sectors.
“There are vast investment opportunities in Sindh, particularly in energy, infrastructure development, education, health, agriculture and in various other sectors,” said the chief minister while delivering his presidential speech at Iran-Pakistan Business Forum.
The program was attended by a large number of Iranian businessmen led by Foreign Minister of Iran Dr. Javad Zarif.
CM Sindh said that Dr. Zarif is a seasoned diplomat and a scholarly man and has brought a high-level delegation of leading Iranian businessmen to explore investment opportunities in Sindh, and boost trade between the two countries.
He said that Dr. Zarif’s personal interest, experience and stature would definitely make difference in his endeavors. He further stated there were vast investment opportunities in Sindh.
The chief minister said the provincial government has introduced public private partnership concept which is producing best results, including projects such as Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas Road, Jhirk-Mulakatiar bridge on River Indus and various others. He added that a new project being launched under PPP mode is Kandhkot – Ghotki bridge on River Indus.
He further said that trade between the two countries showed 33 percent growth as compared to the previous year. Furthermore, there was been 42 percent increase in Pakistani rice exports to Iran over the last nine months as the facilities provided by Iran to rice exporters.
He suggested investment in agriculture sector saying that Sukkur and Larkana are rice producing divisions, while Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad and Shaheed Benazirabad are rich in mango production, while Larkana has guava.
He also stated bilateral banking ties between the two countries are developing, which are necessary to expand trade which currently stands at $1.2 billion. The target is to increase it to $5 bn per annum over the next few years.
The chief minister recalled that former president Asif Ali Zardari had launched Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project and now it has been delayed but would surely be completed. He hoped that the Iranian businessmen would take benefit from investment opportunities in Sindh.
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