JEDDAH, 20 April — Pakistan’s enormous investment opportunities in different economic sectors and various incentives for foreign investment were highlighted by Consul General Qazi Rizwan-ul Haq at a meeting here on Tuesday.
The consul general, who was speaking as the chief guest at a seminar on “Development of plastic technology for packaging use,” organized by the Pakistani Engineers Society (PES), said: “It’s time for overseas investors to make use of these facilities available in a wide ranging fields of activity.”
Izhar H. Qazilbash, general manager (operation) of Savola Packaging Systems (SPS), and Azhar M. Kangi, director of Savola Plastic Industry (SPI), both engineers, were the distinguished speakers.
Rizwan added that Pakistan was a country with abundant natural resources, a large and potentially more productive agriculture sector, a dynamic business community, and a strategic location for trade. “Although it has been burdened by internal and regional impediments in its first 50 years of independence, it has still managed to achieve substantial economic growth,” he said.
Rizwan said he was impressed with the track record of Savola Group, especially the expansion and development of Savola Company into a leading plastic manufacturing and edible oil industry. “I’m pleased to note that Savola is associated with Wazir Ali Industries, Pakistan, with a 40 percent share in the edible oil sector. I hope Savola will further increase and expand its investments in Pakistan,” he remarked.
Kangi, the guest of honor, referred to the phenomenal growth and progress of Savola Company, which started as a local manufacturer of edible oils in 1979. Over the years, the Savola Group expanded its activities, with SPS established in 1989. It acquired 43 percent of holding in Almarai products, started the first production of Savola Egypt Edible Oil Plant in 1984, and commenced the operations for United Sugar Company in 1997. Its merger took place with Al Azizia Panda United, the Kingdom’s largest retailer, associated with Wazir Ali Industries (Pakistan) with a 40 percent share in the edible oil sector in 1998, and started the Savola Jordan Edible Oil plant in 2000.
Qazilbash, the keynote speaker, reviewed the development of packaging use from times immemorial and said a major revolution started in packaging after World War II when natural resources became rare and the need for alternative resources became necessary.
Development of petrochemical industry from crude oil started the production of plastic. In the last five decades, major development took place in plastic technology. In the last 20 years, consumption of major plastic increased from 37 million tons to 142 million tons. Plastic today had become a necessary ingredient in fields like automotive, construction, pharmaceutical, engineering and aerospace.
However, a major use of plastic was in packaging where different plastic processes produced different kind of products for different applications. In supermarkets most of the packages presented were from plastic in the form of milk bottles, rice bags, disposable plates, yogurt, snacks and chocolates.
Azeez Ahmad, secretary general of PES, in his report said the PES scholarship scheme for engineering students pursuing their education in colleges and universities in Pakistan was progressing satisfactorily. So far PES had distributed 1.37 million rupees among 223 students drawn from different colleges and universities in Pakistan.
He added that under the patronage of the Pakistan Embassy and consulate, PES had launched another ambitious program of “10,000 computers for the children of Pakistan” in order to create a computer literacy and IT revolution in the country.
PES’s next technical seminar will be held in May and the next social function for families of Pakistani engineers in the last week of April.
The traditional exhibition cricket match between Pakistani engineers and Pakistani chartered accountants will take place in the second week of May under JCL. Dr. Wajahat H. Mirza, president of PES, who welcomed the guests, in his concluding remarks thanked SPS for sponsoring the event.
He appealed to Pakistani engineers and other members of the community to donate their used PCs to PES for onward dispatch to Pakistan to promote computer skills among the people. The proceedings began with the recitation of Qur’an by Muhammad Asif, an engineer.
