RIYADH, 21 December 2004 — A major investment scheme for overseas Pakistanis called “Overseas Pakistani Investment Fund” (OPIF) has been launched to tap the huge financial potential of the non-resident Pakistanis, whose number in the Kingdom exceeds 1.1 million. The OPIF, set up by a group of the Kingdom-based Pakistani executives with a $10 million fund, will be a privately-managed investment venture for which Pakistan government will play the role of a facilitator.
“We will help OPIF, a network of overseas Pakistani investors working and doing business; and the OPIF in its first phase will target small investors from all over the world”, said Tariq Azeem, federal minister of state for labor, manpower and overseas Pakistanis.
Azeem was speaking at a function hosted by Pakistani Executive Group (PEG) at the Marriot Hotel here. The function was also addressed by Abdul Qadeer Mirza, president of the PEG, Riyadh chapter, besides embassy officials.
Referring to the OPIF, the Pakistani minister said the investment fund would be managed by the Pakistani investors through a governing board elected by them.
He said Pakistani nationals working in the Kingdom were remitting $1.2 billion to Pakistan annually. Azeem, currently on a visit to three Gulf countries on a fact-finding mission, also sought to know more about the conditions of Pakistani workers, the working conditions and their grievances. He visited Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam before wrapping up his visit to the Kingdom.
Referring to his meetings with Saudi officials, Azeem said he had discussed with the Ministry of Labor officials the difficulties faced by Pakistani workers, some of whom were forced to do jobs not specified in their contracts. “Some workers face problems and we will see how we can solve them and we will also explore how we can send more skilled workers to Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Responding to a question he said: “We are trying to find out the exact number of Pakistani workers currently in different jails of the Kingdom.”
He, however, said that some people holding Pakistani passports and serving prisons terms in the Kingdom were from Afghanistan or Bangladesh.
