Pakistan needs to market its potential: Danish Envoy

Social practice of Pakistani people to take good care of foreigners, alone, could lure plenty of foreign investment provided this potential is known to the global investors.
According to top Danish envoy in Islamabad, Pakistan is perceived as a country not that safe from a security point of view. This is affecting the investment climate and making it difficult to convince foreign investors to focus on the potentials in Pakistan.
“I would like to change the misperception about Pakistan as a country not that safe from the security point of view,” said Royal Danish Ambassador Ole E Moesby. In an exclusive interview with Online the Ambassador said he had many pleasant surprises during last three months as he had also come here with the same perception that portrays Pakistan as a “dangerous” country.
Appreciating Pakistan’s sacrifices and contributions to the global war against terrorism, the Ambassador said the world still has “high ambitions on the role Pakistan would play in this war.
“Therefore, you need to put your house in order while fighting against terror to appear to the foreign investors as a secure and promising country to foreign investors,” he added. The investment friendly policies and estimated rate of return are still preferable over other countries such as India, he added.
Only change of the world view coupled with clean governance could lead Pakistan to enter the bracket of world’s fastest growing countries known as BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China). “I cherish this group enlarges with Pakistan and BRIC becomes BRIC+P,” the Ambassador observed.
Recalling 2008 terrorists attack on the Royal Danish Embassy in Islamabad wherein members of security and other staff lost their lives, the Ambassador said, “Tragic and chocking as the meaningless loss of lives and health was; The deplorable incident had rather strengthened our resolve to work together with Pakistan against extremism.”
“I don’t know the extent to which there was a desire to develop the bilateral relations between Denmark and Pakistan before the attack on the Embassy, but after that it has been ever more. We have taken it as a challenge to build deeper bilateral relations rather than yielding to terrorists,” he added.
“Being small country of only five million people we do not have any of the natural resources expect the thing between the two ears that is the brain,” Moesby said. In comparison Pakistan has a plenty of natural resources in addition to majority of the population in the working age with world class intellect and learning potential, the Ambassador observed.
Sharing Denmark’s experience of tackling the oil crisis of the 70s, he said, “Pakistan facing energy shortages could learn from the Danish experience in diverting focus to the alternate resources.”
According to the Ambassador, only effective as well as efficient usage of energy could minimize the impact of the crisis. Gradually lessening dependence on the imported energy by tapping many resources of your country still unused, is the way forward, he added. “We should also not forget that every crisis generates an opportunity at the same time,” he concluded.