ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Second Annual GEO-BOI International Conference was held with the theme “Time to Invest” at Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on Friday (May 3, 2019).
#TimeToInvestInPakistan#DontDelayInvestToday#GeoBoIConference@SharifHaroon@shaukatkhattak @pid_gov pic.twitter.com/kHE7PZ1Zj6
— Board of Investment, Pakistan (@investinpak) May 2, 2019
Address by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi at the 2nd annual GEO-BOI International Conference
Honourabe Advisor on Finance, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh,
Chairman BoI, Mr. Haroon Sharif,
Executive Director Geo, Mr. Jawad Goraya,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Assalam-o-Alaikum and a Very Good Morning!
Let me, at the outset, thank Geo TV and the Board of Investment for organizing this important Conference.
Also for affording me the opportunity to address such a distinguished gathering of industry leaders, diplomats, government officials, media representatives and experts on finance and economy.
A candid and informed discourse on the state of the Pakistani economy, its challenges and opportunities, among the widest possible spectrum of interests and opinions, is both timely and essential.
It is important because all too often, the true picture gets distorted in the face of informational overload, driven at times by hyped up rhetoric, and at times by pessimistic assessments about where we stand, where we are headed, and where we ought to go.
A realistic appraisal, hence, is in order.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A key task of Pakistani diplomacy, any diplomacy for that matter, is to work to create a peaceful external environment, so that long term developmental goals can be advanced in earnest.
In short, the ultimate goal is to deliver peace and prosperity.
The notion of Economic Diplomacy, nonetheless, goes farther. It connotes proactive outreach and robust engagement.
Concisely, it is about leveraging a country’s foreign relations in the service of its economic and development goals.
As a concept, this has been around for quite sometime.
But it is for the first time that a government has put muscle on the idea; placing it at the highest pedestal of our foreign policy priorities and assiduously working out the details.
In the context of Pakistan, economic diplomacy means ten specific things, leading to 10 specific agendas:
- Enhancing Pakistan’s exports, and increasing our share in the international market, both in sectors of our comparative advantage and nascent fields, with promising prospects of growth.
- Integrating our manufacturing and industrial base into the global value chain, by attracting FDI through greater ease of doing business, and forging partnerships in strategic sectors of the economy.
- Overcoming economic headwinds by helping create the fiscal space, needed for long term policy adjustments.
- Working the lawful migration corridors, by securing and expanding employment opportunities for Pakistanis abroad, and ensuring seamless inflow of remittances.
- Prudently utilizing Official Development Assistance and donor support for national development, to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, particularly to plug critical infrastructure gaps, in a manner that is environmentally and fiscally responsible.
- Prioritizing technology and innovation, by indigenizing knowledge, and ensuring technology transfers on favourable terms.
- Promoting tourism as a foreign exchange earner.
- Giving impetus to various projects on connectivity, from transit and multi-modal transport, to energy or digital domains.
- Working closely with other stakeholders on the counter terror financing track, to arrest terror funding, and pre-empt threats to our financial systems.
- Extending no-strings-attached economic support to developing countries, particularly Afghanistan and the nations in Africa, in humanitarian assistance, education, capacity building and scientific collaboration.
Last year in December, I had the pleasure of co-hosting along with Advisor Razzak Dawood and Chairman Haroon Sharif, an Envoys Conference on attracting FDI and promoting trade at the Foreign Office.
The huddle brought for the first time, private sector representatives, corporate heads and financial experts on a common platform, with our envoys from key capitals.
Over a period of two days, we held extensive deliberations on the state of our trade and investments, and what needed to be done.
The outcomes, which were presented to Prime Minister Imran Khan, who graced the concluding session, illuminated the way forward.
Among other things, it recommended:
- Adopt a whole-of-government approach.
- Operationalize the one-window concept; address investor concerns, and expedite redressal of trade complaints & disputes.
- Devise country, and product driven, trade and investment strategies.
- Plug the information deficit.
- Involve the Pakistani diaspora, and tap into the venture capital and sovereign wealth funds.
This was only the beginning. Going forward, I intend to oversee a pivot towards economic diplomacy, wherein the Foreign Office works embedded within the federal government matrix, but also increasingly with the provinces and private sectors, as an enabler, facilitator, connector, coordinator and trouble shooter.
In the nine months of Naya Pakistan, I believe we have achieved tangible, measurable outcomes.
Allow me to elaborate.
ONE: Whether it is peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, or peace overtures to India, we have been on the peace offensive. In Afghanistan a serious push towards dialogue has been made possible by efforts by Pakistan, along with other stakeholders, as part of shared responsibility. All the while, we have kept our allies and partners, engaged and informed.
While India has been raking up tensions with Pakistan, as an outcome of the BJP government’s electoral arithmatic, Pakistan has managed to contain the crisis by acting with great responsibility, utmost restraint and iron resolve. The Kartarpur spirit, envisioned by Prime Minister Imran Khan, lends credence to hopes for a fresh push for dialogue and diplomacy, once a new government is in place in New Delhi, soon.
TWO: Where needed, we have reinvigorated relations, imbuing them with a renewed spirit of cooperation and partnership. With China, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey, Qatar, Malaysia and Iran, our relations have assumed a stronger economic dimension.
I accompanied Prime Minister Imran Khan to China recently. The visit witnessed two seminal developments that gave great impetus to our trade and connectivity agenda. Firstly, Pakistan and China decided to enter the next phase of CPEC, which will see establishment of Special Economic Zones. The SEZs are envisioned to be fulcrum of future waves of industrialization, with investments from China and Pakistan. Secondly, we inked Phase II of Pakistan-China Free Trade Agreement. The Agreement gives Pakistan concessionary market access across a range of tariff lines, affords robust safeguard measures for protection of domestic Pakistani industry, and carries balance of payments support provisions. If Pakistan is able to capture even 10% of Chinese market share in priority products and lines, this would translate into a surge of our exports worth over $ 6 billion.
The China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement-II has been designed, specifically keeping in view the imperative of plugging Pakistani industry into China’s value chain and attracting FDI in the SEZs.
THREE: Pakistan has secured, from friendly countries, balance of payments support – to the tune of some $ 13.4 bn – which includes direct placement of funds with SBP, outrights grants, trade concessions or oil on deferred payment facility.
FOUR: Big ticket investments are also lining up. Saudi Arabia’s Aramco has committed $ 20 billion to set up an oil refinery in Gwadar; and the UAE and Qatar are eyeing investments of a comparable magnitude. During Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s recent visit to Pakistan, contracts worth some $ 900 million were concluded.
FIVE: Qatar has recently established visa centres to expedite uptake of 100,000 Pakistani workers. Bahrain is opening up a special nursing college in Islamabad, to enable Pakistani paramedics to capture the overseas demand. I was in Japan a few days ago, where one of the major takeaways was an agreement we recently concluded to train and upskill Pakistani manpower, a first step towards granting greater employment opportunities of our human resource.
SIX: You must be aware of Exxon Mobil’s return to exploration activities in Pakistan, and the off shore drilling activity that is currently underway. What many are not aware of, is that according to a USAid assisted study, Pakistan has an estimated 95 trillion cubic feet of recoverable shale gas, and some 14 billion barrels of recoverable shale oil, making them among the largest in the world.
SEVEN: Concerted efforts are being made to promote tourism. Visa issuance has been made easier, and cheaper, with the introduction of E-Visa and Visa on Arrival facilities. A few months ago, under the auspices of the Foreign Office, I had the pleasure to launch the Gandhara Forum. The Forum will focus on promoting spiritual tourism to revered Buddist sites in Pakistan.
EIGHT: In partnership with relevant stakeholders, we are institutionalizing economic diplomacy planning. One area of particular focus has been science diplomacy, wherein emphasis is being placed on creating linkages among counterpart institutions.
Distinguished Participants,
If some of the most powerful and resourceful countries of the region are linking up with, and investing in the Pakistani economy, it is time to take full advantage of the exciting opportunities opening up in Pakistan.
It is time to Invest.
Thank You!
