Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa signs agreements worth $8 billion at Expo Dubai

KARACHI: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province signed over 40 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) at Expo 2020 Dubai that would bring foreign investment worth $8 billion, Arab News quoted the KP investment board and officials as saying.

Described as “the event of the century,” the expo kicked off in October, bringing together representatives from more than 190 countries. The exhibition is the largest global gathering since the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic and will run until April 2022.

Pakistan’s pavilion at the expo has been highlighting investment opportunities, tourism potential and cultural magnificence of the country. In January, its highlight is the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Foreign firms and investors expressed their keen interest in various projects in tourism, industrial, infrastructure, food processing, livestock, energy and power sectors, and a water sports theme park in KP’s Swabi district at an investment conference at Expo Dubai on Sunday.

“International firms have signed 44 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth $8 billion during the Expo 2020 Dubai,” KP finance minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra said, while addressing attendees at the conference.

Jhagra said that the KP government had presented these projects in a better way. “For the promotion of tourism in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the government is presenting ready projects at the expo for investment,” he said.

KP had vast investment opportunities in tourism, energy and power, infrastructure and other sectors, according to the minister. The Swat Expressway was built under a public-private partnership and now it was being extended to other cities to boost trade and economy, he said.

Among the attendees at the conference were chief executive officers (CEOs) of the Samara Group, Mazaya Group (EGI), Jannat and AJ Group, Almasa Group and a number of Dubai-based and international investors, who expressed their willingness to invest in various tourism projects in the northwestern Pakistani province.

“Investment groups that have signed MoUs include Enertech-Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), Private Office of Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook-Al-Maktoum, Samara Group, VR Group, Sigma Group, Malik Foams, Nobel Future Land and many others,” KP chief minister Mahmood Khan said on Twitter.

“Investments in the development of food processing zones, integrated tourism zones (ITZ), Solarisation of Economic Zones, Construction of Transmission Lines across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will help in transforming KP by creating economic opportunities and increase in employment.”

Jhagra said that his government had planned to establish an Overseas Pakistan Council to facilitate investors, saying the process was currently in the legislation stage. The KP government had established a special economic zone (SEZ) in Rashakai and that people were now coming to invest in the province, he added.

KP culture minister Shaukat Yousafzai said the province had a huge potential for investment and these agreements would help increase the flow of foreign investment into the province.

KP additional chief secretary Shahab Ali Shah said that only those projects were presented at the expo, whose feasibility reports were complete and only investors were needed.

“The government is ready to provide a one-window facility to investors,” he added.

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