ISLAMABAD - US ambassador Richard Oslon called on BoI Chairman Mohammad Zubair in his office to discuss various issues.
Oslon said that the US-Pakistan bilateral relations are very strong and America always values the political and diplomatic support of Pakistan in the matters of high priorities. Talking about the purpose of the meeting, Olson said that US-Pakistan started negotiating US BIT in 2004 and after nine years the matter is yet to be addressed on serious note. The US government always desires 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. BOI chief assured the US Ambassador that our government is committed to sign the treaty without further delays.
Talking about the restructuring of BoI, chairman BOI apprised the ambassador that USAID is providing technical and financial support to BOI for improvement in procedures and organizational 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 we need to achieve the target of 20% for investment to GDP ratio which is presently around 13%. US ambassador emphasized to organize road shows in the US to promote the new investment policy and special economic zones of Pakistan. He said that such shows can be arranged all over US to support the government to achieve the targets of energy policy. In this regard, the American business councils and other forums may actively be involved attract more US investment to the country.