Reko Diq project: Senate passes Foreign Investment Protection Bill

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Monday passed the Foreign Investment (Promotion and Protection) Bill, 2022, aimed to protect investors from unnecessary court proceedings in relation to the Reko Diq project.

According to details, the Foreign Investment Protection Bill was presented by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar on behalf of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

In a brief speech on Senate floor, the minister said that foreign investment was very important for the country to progress. “It is in everyone’s knowledge that the Reko Diq project came to a halt because of which Pakistan suffered several fines,” he added.

As per state-news agency APP, the reasons of the bill stated that to provide for the promotion and protection of certain qualified foreign investment and for matters incidental thereto it is expedient and in the national interest to attract, encourage, and protect, large-scale foreign investments into Pakistan.

“To ensure sustainable economic activity and growth, it is necessary to improve the investment climate in Pakistan by way of providing incentives in direct and indirect taxes and ease of transfer and repatriation of foreign investments to the large scale foreign investment,” it added.

The bill noted that by protecting such incentives from withdrawal and providing an expedient and efficacious mechanism to address grievances of investors of qualified investment.

It is essential for the federal government, the provincial governments, the local governments and other relevant authorities to work together and cooperate to ensure the provision of incentives and protection for qualified investments.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan on Dec 9 ruled that new deal on the Reko Diq gold and copper mining project in Balochistan is legal.

Reko Diq is one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper-gold mines. The project is being restarted after remaining on hold since 2011.

The top court announced the ruling on a reference sent by President Arif Alvi under Article 186 of the Constitution of Pakistan in the Reko Diq Project on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The president asked the apex court whether a new deal on the Reko Diq project was legally safe under the Constitution of Pakistan and international arbitration.

The SC in its ruling said that international experts assisted the court and added that the Reko Diq deal is not in contradiction with the SC’s order in 2013.

The agreement was done by the federal and Balochistan governments in line with the opinion of experts and there is nothing illegal in it.