Over 100 US firms to attend ‘Business Opportunity’ conference
KARACHI: Around 100 US companies engaged in energy, textiles, agriculture, healthcare, infrastructure, IT, etc are going to attend the ‘Pak-US Business Opportunity’ conference being held on March 10-11 in Islamabad, US Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson said on Friday.
Briefing media about the conference, which would be third in series, the US envoy said an economically prosperous Pakistan would help integrate regional economies, bringing peace and security for all, including Afghanistan.
Earlier two conferences were held in London and Dubai due to security reasons.
He said the $5 billion trade between the two countries was mostly in Pakistan’s favour as its exports to the US were $3.71bn compared to imports of $1.74bn.
Highlighting Pakistan’s untapped business potential, Mr Olson said the country’s manpower is educated and its economic growth steady. The Pakistani government, he said, was striving to accelerate economic growth in order to fight extremism and poverty.
The US had been cooperating with Pakistan in many sectors, including energy and infrastructure, to help it resolve energy crisis, he said.
The US had given a grant of $150 million to develop businesses, particularly the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the envoy said.
Speaking on the occasion, Federal Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir Khan said promoting international trade and investment was at the centre of government’s economic policies.
The minister said Pakistan and the US shared an important economic and strategic relationship, therefore, bolstering economic ties with Washington was among Islamabad’s top priorities.
American Business Council of Pakistan (ABC) President Arshad Saeed Husain said the council had partnered with the Ministry of Commerce and the US Department of State for the third edition of ‘Business Opportunities Conference.’
The ABC members “are committed to make this conference a success by sharing their experiences with potential trade partners and investors”, he added.
He said that around 15-20pc of Pakistan’s total exports enter the US market each year. In 2013, US imports were $3.687bn, about 16pc of Islamabad’s total exports, he added.
The US also remained a very important source of foreign direct investment (FDI) for Pakistan, with major areas of investment including energy, agriculture, IT and infrastructure.
Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2015
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