German companies keen to invest in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The German investors have expressed interest to bring investment in various sectors and also observe new avenues to enhance the business and investment ties between Pakistan and Germany.

They expressed interest in the dairy industry, communication, automobile and service sectors as potential areas for investment in Pakistan, a statement issued by the Board of Investment (BoI) said.

During a meeting between BoI secretary Fareena Mazhar a delegate representing German airline ‘Lufthansa’ shared that the airline was really keen on resuming flight operations in Pakistan after 13 years.

The German International Airlines ‘Lufthansa’ has shown interest in resuming flight operations to Pakistan after 13 years to restore air connectivity between both sides.

The secretary, in response, offered to arrange a meeting with the aviation minister to ensure that the plan materialises.

The prospect of this development was earlier discussed in a meeting between the secretary and German Ambassador to Pakistan Bernhard Stephan Schlagheck held on September 8, 2021.

The BoI secretary mentioned food processing, automotive, IT, energy, textiles, logistics and housing and construction sectors as some of the potential sectors for investment in Pakistan.

The German company Weidmüller also announced to start a production plant in Pakistan in the near future during the meeting.

The company is an expert in the transmission of power, signals and data in industrial environments.

The delegation comprised 16 members, headed by Oliver Oehms, CEO of AHK Dubai. It included several German business giants such as Lufthansa, AHK, SIG MEA, Weidmuller Middle, Emltc Emerging Solutions among others.

All these companies have prominent presence in most parts of the world and are visiting Pakistan to analyse the business climate and explore lucrative investment opportunities here.

They expressed interest in the dairy industry, communication, automobile and service sector, as potential sectors for investment in Pakistan.

The visit has come about as an encouraging prospect for Pakistan in terms of attracting new investment in several sectors and has been termed as a positive sign for the country’s economy by the BoI secretary.

During the meeting, the BoI secretary briefed the delegation on Pakistan’s investment policy, which has been formulated to create an investor-friendly environment to attract foreign direct investment and provide equal treatment to foreign and local investors.

The BoI is leading the “Pakistan Regulatory Modernisation Initiative”(PRMI), launched by the prime minister to make the regulatory environment friendly and that it would transform the regulatory landscape across all tiers of the government; federal, provincial and local.

Fareena Mazhar highlighted the tax incentives available to investors in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and mentioned the 22 SEZs approved by the BoI across Pakistan, including Allama Iqbal Industrial City, Rashakai SEZ, Khairpur SEZ, M3 Industrial City Faisalabad, National Science and Technology Park, Hattar SEZ, etc.

Discussing the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) reforms during the interaction, the BoI secretary underlined Pakistan’s improvement of 39 positions in the EODB index and shared that she was confident that the rating would further improve in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report of 2021.

Expressing her satisfaction on the total trade volume worth $2.659 billion, she said that she was optimistic about further improvement in the business volume between the two countries in the foreseeable future.