ISLAMABAD: Pakistan needed an annual jump of $5 billion to $10 billion in exports to ensure a sustainable growth.

These remarks were made byMinister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal at a report launch event, where he committed the incumbent government’s support to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor as well as to expediting work on its related projects.

Federal Minister Board of Investment Salik Hussain and Chairman All Pakistan Chinese Enterprise Association (APCEA) Yang Jianduo, were among guest speakers at the report launch titled ‘Catalyzing Private Investment in Pakistan’

He said when the PML-N government signed $46 billion projects under CPEC back in 2013, no one in the world was willing to bring investment in Pakistan due to the poor law and order situation.Pakistan, he said desperately needed investment in energy and infrastructure sectors. The minister said China invested $29 billion in these sectors during the five years.

He said China also helped Pakistan utilizing its strategic reserves such as Thar Coal which were now producing thousands of megawatt (MW) energy and contributing to the national grid.

Ahsan Iqbal pointed out that $900 billion worth of investment from the developed world was seeking enabling business-friendly environment in the developing countries. “However, the investment can never come to a country where there is political chaos, polarization, and policy reversal,” he added.

He said the annual foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam was about $28-30 billion while in Pakistan in 2020 it was only $1.2 billion.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2022