US Ambassador Richard Oslon and BOI Chairman Mohammad Zubair on Wednesday discussed the way forward for signing the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) that has been pending since 2004.
The US ambassador called on the BoI chairman and discussed various issues that remained pending during the tenure of last government.
“The US and Pakistan started negotiating BIT in 2004 and after nine years the matter is yet to be addressed on serious note,” Oslon said while speaking on the occasion.
He said the US government always desired to help Pakistan to get over the issues related to economic state of growth with rising prosperity and full employment to the people of Pakistan. Oslon said the US-Pakistan bilateral relations were very strong and America always valued the political and diplomatic support of Pakistan in the matters of high priorities.
The US ambassador emphasised to organise road shows in the US to promote the new investment policy and special economic zones of Pakistan.
He said such shows could be arranged all over the US to support the government to achieve the targets of energy policy. In this regard, he added, the American business councils and other forums may actively be involved to attract more US investment to the country.
The BOI chief assured Olson that the government was committed to sign the BIT without further delays and he may conclude the BIT before long with the mutual consent of the major stakeholders.
Talking about the restructuring of BOI, its chairman apprised the ambassador that USAID was providing technical and financial support to the BOI for improvement in procedures and organisational structure.
He mentioned that BOI will soon be made `one stop shop’ for the investors because investment is the key element to improve the Pakistan’s economy. He stated that Pakistan needs to achieve the target of 20 percent for investment to GDP ratio which is presently around 13 percent.
