A high level Thai delegation headed by Nat Pinyowattanacheep, Minister Department of South Asian, Middle East and African Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand visited the office of Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT) and held talks with PBIT management regarding scope of Thai investment in Punjab. Representatives of Thai Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Thai industries, Thai Investment Promotion offices, SME’s database and Static’s Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs were part of the delegation.
Chief Executive Officer PBIT Dr. Sajid Yosufani, chaired the meeting and apprise the delegates of the opportunities present in the sectors of energy, dairy and livestock with emphasis on Halal, retail, automobiles agriculture and textiles in Punjab for investment. He told that the climate for investment in Punjab is immensely favorable for foreign investors as Government has taken solid measures to facilitate business and foreign investments by providing one window plate forms for facilitation such as PBIT and industrial zones such as FIEDMC, PIE on strategic locations in Punjab.
The delegation showed interest in the sectors of livestock and poultry, especially to setup a Halal park in Punjab as well as expressed in leveraging investors interest in coal and hydel based large-scale power generation plants. Members of Thai Business delegation also expressed possibility of Thai collaboration for skill up gradation of PSIC’s black stone handicraft institute in Attock. CEO PBIT assured the delegates of utmost facilitation services from the platform of Punjab Board of Investment and Trade.
Officers representing Government of Punjab included Hamid Yaqoob Shiekh, Secretary Livestock, Rab Nawaz, Secretary Energy, Asim Khrusheed Chairman Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development & Management Company (FIEDMC), Muhammad Arshad Secretary General Pakistan Association of Auto Parts and Accessories Manufactures and representatives of Industries Department, LMC and BOI Islamabad were present on the occasion.
The delegation also discussed the scope of joint ventures in SME sector with Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) today at a meeting held at SMEDA Head Office. H.E. Marut Jitpatima, Ambassador of the Royal Thai Embassy was leading the delegation. Whereas, on behalf of SMEDA Iqbal A. Kidwai, General Manager Operation and Outreach led the discussion along with Bakhtiar Khan, GM Policy and Planning.
Members of the delegation, while exchanging their views with SMEDA experts, observed that Pakistan was tremendous natural resources supplemented by plenty of the raw material and produces produced by its Agricultural sector. Pakistan can bring prosperity to its people by proper exploitation of these resources through modern technologies, they added.
The delegation identified the fields of Agro-food processing, Gems and Jewelry, Textile, Livestock, Fisheries and Marine Aquaculture for joint ventures between the two countries and offered SMEDA to initiate a serious follow up towards this direction in collaboration with the local Thai Embassy.
H.E. Marut Jitpatima, Ambassador of Royal Thai Embassy, while expressing his views on this occasion, assured to expedite initiatives for training of trainers as well as exchange of trade delegations between the two countries. He put special emphasis on sharing Thai expertise in value addition of aquaculture and precious stones in Pakistan. He proposed to arrange an MoU between SMEDA and its Thai counterpart for continuous follow up on joint ventures in the SME sector.
Earlier, Iqbal A. Kidwai, GM Operations and Outreach of SMEDA gave a presentation to the visiting delegation on services and projects of SMEDA. He told that besides developing services, Projects and Policies for SME sector, SMEDA was striving hard to bring modern technologies, training and marketing techniques through international agencies like World Bank, USAID, GTZ, JICA, ADB, UNIDO and UNDP. He assured to strengthen relations also with Thai development agencies through continued interaction with Royal Thai Embassy in Pakistan.
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