PM invites Swiss companies to invest in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has invited Swiss companies to invest in renewable energy and IT sectors of the country.

The prime minister was talking to Swiss delegation led by its Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis who called on him in Islamabad. Both sides agreed to use G2G and B2B channels to build collaboration in tourism and development of related infrastructure. It was also decided to convene a meeting shortly to further spell out modes of cooperation in this regard.

It was further agreed to enhance bilateral ties, especially in the areas of climate change, trade and investment, development cooperation, higher education and vocational training between Pakistan and Bern.

On the occasion, Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman gave a presentation regarding the Living Indus initiative and Delta blue carbon project which will resume over 300,000 hectares of mangrove wetlands reducing 147 million metric tonnes of carbon and bringing revenue of $250 million.

Earlier, the Prime Minister welcomed Foreign Minister Cassis and his accompanying delegation and reiterated the high importance Pakistan attached to its relations with Switzerland.

PM Shehbaz Sharif also thanked the Swiss Government for providing support to Pakistan in the aftermath of last year’s devastating floods.

It is pertinent to mention that this is the first bilateral visit of the Swiss Foreign Minister to Pakistan accompanied by three members of the Parliament in the last seventeen years.

Meanwhile, in a tweet, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he had a productive discussion with Foreign Minister of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis on expanding cooperation in trade and investment, climate change, disaster management, risk reduction, early warning, higher education, and building tourism infrastructure. He appreciated Switzerland’s advocacy for climate-responsible sustainable development.