JEDDAH, 7 March 2006 — Pakistan plans to announce a special package for overseas investors during Expo 2006, according to its Minister of State for Commerce Hamid Yar Hiraj.
“The package will include special zones where land will be provided by the government and investors will be allowed to bring used plants for installation,” Hiraj said during his meeting with Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s Vice Chairman Mazen Mohammad Batterjee and top official Ziyad Bassam M. Al-Bassam.
The minister said that projects on 100 percent ownership basis would be exempted from tax for five years and the government would also share transportation costs.
Hiraj, who was accompanied by Hijab Gul, commercial counselor at the Consulate General of Pakistan, apprised Batterjee of his country’s privatization policy.
Al-Bassam expressed his interest in the privatization of hotels and asked for a list of related projects available.
“Most of the hotels are in the private sector with the exception of one in Lahore that belongs to the ministry, which will be privatized soon,” Hiraj said, adding that there are ample opportunities for opening new five-star hotels in Pakistan, especially at hill resorts.
Al-Bassam said that though a number of Saudi businessmen had invested in Pakistan, there were many others who were looking for investment in the East. “For them, Pakistan will be a good destination,” Al-Bassam said.
Batterjee said the chamber would constitute a group of businessmen from different sectors to visit Pakistan. The group will visit the Expo 2006 in Karachi and also tour Lahore and Islamabad.
