Federal Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan has said that a 10-year concession package will be launched for the Export Processing Zones across the country,which will be supported by a legal cover to restore the confidence of the local and foreign investors in the government policies. According to newspaper reports, Khan attended a briefing on the Export Processing Zones and noted with concern that the shortage of electricity and gas are the main reasons behind low productivity by the manufacturing sector.
As a matter of fact, Pakistan has potentials to prove itself as a lucrative destination of investment opportunities by providing concessions in taxes and duties at the Export Processing Zones. Apart from the provision of a state-of-the-art infrastructure, the capacity-building of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) officials should also be ensured to deal with foreign investors while specific industrial zone should be planned to manufacture high-tech gadgets. Pakistan has highly qualified workforce which can be utilized to boost economy and stop brain drain from the country. The idea of Pakistan’s ownSilicon Valley cannot be ruled out with a potential to export over $500 billion worth of software products a year from Pakistan. Unfortunately, the foreign direct investment has been downed by 26 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year and even the friendly counties, like Saudi Arabia and China, have withdrawn portions of their investments from the country. So far, Pakistan received only $169 million investment, mostly from European countries, including Switzerland, Italy, the United Kingdom and France.
It is time for the government to change the direction of its policies to put the country on the road to progress and prosperity. The idea of economic zones is viable and that is what the other countries are doing to attract the investors from all over the world. The government is holding a two-day international investment conference in Islamabad to highlight the investment climate in the country, but it is yet to be seen how much it is able to exploit this opportunity and convince the local and foreign investors to put their money in the processing zones.